SUCCESSFUL 

MEN 
I OF TO-DAY 



:i<tfMk»»> 



BY 

WILBUR F. CRAFTS 




Class JE.l_lkJl 
Book.^_^. ilA_ 



Copyright N". 



\j o 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




J^ ^-^ Andrew Carrtedce 



BUSINESS MEN 



Successful Men of To-day 

AND 

what They Say of Success 



BASED ON FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED BY LETTERS 

AND PERSONAL INTERVIEWS FROM FIVE 

HUNDRED PROMINENT MEN 



BY 

WILBUR F. CRAFTS, Ph.D. 

Author of ^'^ The Sabbath for Man,'"'' ^'■Practical Christian Sociology ^^ 
^^ Heroes and Holidays,^ ^ ^^ Plain Uses of the Blackboard^'''' etc. 



REVISED. FORTY-FIFTH THOUSAND 




FUNK <y WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 
1905 



mL 2B 8905 I A 

SopiTfgni r.-i^-.v f " The heights by great men reached and kept,y^. \o^ 

%j'4^- SiO, f^0^l Were not attained by sudden flight, <b-^ (^ ^P 

*^J 1 L^l ^J-"" t ^^^ ^^^^' ^^^'^^ ^^^^^ companions slept, ^ ♦ n^^ 

<^Spv .Si f Were toiling upward in the night." — Longfellow. 



—in 



Studying others' lives, you will find many ways of employing 
your activities that you never thought of before." — C. S. Robin- 
son, D.D. 

" I cannot even hear of personal vigor of any kind, great power of 
performance, without fresh resolution. This is the moral of biog- 
raphy ; yet it is hard for departed men to touch the quick like our 
own companions, whose names may not last so long." — Emeeson. 

"If the history of our citizens of wealth were written, we should 
find that fully three-fourths have risen from comparatively small 
beginnings to their present position." — Hon. Wm. E. Dodge. 



At no time in the world's history, probably, has there been so 
general an interest in biography as that which has been shown 
during the past ten or fifteen years. . . . Just here lies a 
weighty obligation upon those who write, and those who read, about 
the lives of men and women who have done something in the world. 
It is not enough for us to know what they have done ; it belongs to 
us to discover the why of their works and ways, and to get some 
personal benefit from the analysis of their successes and failures. 
. . . Why was this man great ? What general intentions and 
what special traits led him to success ? What ideal stood before 
him, and by what means did he seek to attain it ? Or, on the other 
hand, what unworthy purpose, what lack of conscience and religious 
sense, what unsettled method and feeble endeavor, stood in the way 
of the "man of genius" and his possible achievements? — Henry 
Clay Trumbull, D.D. 



Copyright, 1883, by 

FUNK & WAGNALLS 

Copyright, 1905, by 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

[Printed in the United States of America] 



mTRODUCTION 

TO REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. 



" The Success of Those Who Failed " was the profound title of a 
sermon by the seer, Maltbie D. Babcock, at a Natioual Endeavor 
Coiiveution. It was based on the text, "were slain with the sword," 
strangely found in a list of victors * Paul, who wrote or prompted 
the words, was himself the greatest of all those thus slain and thus suc- 
cessful. None of the rich or the rulers of his time are as well known 
or as honored as he — none half so influential. On the other hand, 
Paul's chief opponents, the Pharisees and Nero, illustrate the failures 
of those who succeed; who " carry their point" only to make them- 
selves infamous. 

Success, when we speak with reference to an act or a series of acts, 
is the consummation of one's purpose ; but in the larger biographical 
sense in whicli it is used in this book, it is best defined, as we show 
elsewhere, in tlie words that Christ spoke, not of some great man's 
public act, but of a lowly woman's loving deed, "She hath done 
what she could." That is, true success is not excelling or equaling 
some one else, but making the most of my own capacities and oppor- 
tunities; fulfilling God's plan for my own life. 

This book assumes there is a science of success. Not that we can 
by any rules make a genius any more than we can make a diamond. 
But as we c;m smelt stubborn ores into useful metals by discovering 
the laws of their antipathies and attractions, so, by a scientific study 
of l)ioi2;raphy, sucli as is suggested in the informal discussions of the 
chapters following, and crudely outlined in the Appendix, we can 
help a young man to develop his capacities into character. 

That word "character," which is as hard to define as personality 
itself, is the supreme word in biography. Heredity, environment, 
character ; the greatest of these is character, which depends, chiefly 
on a man's own will and choice, an element in which the spiritual 
kingdom, to Avhich man really belongs by right of his highest facul- 
ties, differs from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, where 
seed and soil, sun and shower, absolutely determine results, unin- 
fluenced by any freedom of the subject. But Religion and Govern- 
ment have both too much forgotten — and even paients also — that 
free huniaa souls are mightily influenced hy heredity and environ- 
ment. As the "plant wizard," Luther Burbank, has succeeded in 
developing cactus without spines, why can not some soul wizard 
develop men with them ? Indeed, we believe courage, no less than 
cactus, can be cultivated. 

* Heb. 11. 

iii 



IV INTRODUCTIOlf. 

While this book includes true success in business as well as in 
other lines of action, it is partly a protest against the commercialism 
that counts success and wealth as synonomous, regardless of the fact 
that many win their wealth by merchandise in " the bodies and souls 
of men." f The thing that Jesus Christ condemned more than in- 
temperance or any of the grosser vices (more than anything bat hy- 
pocrisy) was covetousness — that is, commercialism— a sin more com- 
mon in the strenuous Anglo Saxon races than in any of the easy-going 
Oriental peoples to whom he spoke. Home and School and Church 
should unite to exorcise our land of this demonism. Even the wives 
of our millionaires can not meet socially without dragging in the 
"shop " by winning prizes of commercial value at cards, and a New 
York rector found it necessary to preach to the young ladies of his 
flock against fleecing, by gambling games, the young men who called 
on them. These daughters of money-mad fathers can not even make 
love without making money. 

Certain things, it is clearly shown by these pages, make it easier to 
win true success and harder to fail. Country life and poverty yield 
more than their quota of our successful men. In the race of life tlie poor 
boy on foot outruns the young sport in his automobile. Some one said, 
"Roosevelt is the only man born on Fifth Avenue that ever amounted 
to anything." To which the swift reply came, " He was not born on 
Fifth Avenue." His home was neither a cottage nor a palace, and 
his well-to-do but not opulent father trained his boys to useful work. 
Indeed, that word "work" appears more prominently than any 
other in what successful men say of success, not alone of its boy- 
hood, but also of its manhood. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, replying to 
our questions, puts the secret of success in two words, "Hard work." 
Mr. Edward W. Bok, editor of The Ladies' Home Journal, puts it: 
"Love work for the sake of your M'ork, and not for the reward there 
is in it ; and regard something difficult as only something to be over- 
come." Senator Hoar, in his old age, declared that most of the suc- 
cessful men he had known did not excel their fellows in genius but 
only in work. Dr. William Osier, whose call from Johns Hopkins 
University to the Regius Professorship of Medicine at Oxford Uni- 
versity, a position hardly second to any in tiie medical world, puts 
emphasis on his words, said, in an address to young physicians on 
"Life's Master Word ": 

"Though a little one, the master-word looms large in meaning. It 
is the open-sesame to every portal, the great equalizer in the world, 
the true philosophers stone which transmutes all the base metal of 
humanity into gold. The stupid man among you it will make bright, 
the blight man brilliant, and tlie brilliant student steady. With the 
magic word in your lieart all things are possible, and without it all 
study is vanity and vexation. The miracles of life are with it ; the 
blind see by touch, the deaf hear with eyes, the dumb speak with 
fingers. To the youth it brings hope, to the middle-aged confidence, 
to the aged repose. True balm of Jmrt minds, in its presence the 
heart of the sorrowful is lightened and consoled. It is directly re- 
sponsible for all advances in medicine during the past twenty-five 

t Rev. 18. 



INTRODUCTIOlf. V 

centuries. Laying hold upon it, Hippocrates made observation and 
science the warp and woof of our art. Galen so read its meaning 
that fifteen centuries stopped thinking and slept until awakened by 
the ' De Fabrica ' of Vesalius, which is the very incarnation of the 
master-word. With its inspiration Harvey gave an impulse to a larger 
circulation than he wot of, an impulse which we feel to-day. Hunter 
sounded all its heights and depths, and stands out in our history as 
one of the great exemplars of its virtue. With it Virchow smote the 
rock, and the waters of progress gushed out ; while in the hands of 
Pasteur it proved a very talisman, to open to us a new heaven in 
medicine and a new earth in surgery. Not only has it been the touch- 
stone of progress, but it is the measure of success in every day life. 
Kot a man before you but is beholden to it for his position here, while 
he who addresses you has that honor directly in consequence of hav- 
ing had it graven on his heart when he was as you are to-day. And the 
master-word is Work — a little one, as I have said, but fraught with 
momentous sequences if you can but write it on the tablets of your 
hearts and bind it upon your foreheads." 

The form that the successful man's extra "work" has usually 
taken in young manhood has been useful reading in spare moments, 
the careful harvesting of which made Elihu Burrit tlie "learned 
blacksmith," and Hugh Miller the "learned stonecutter," and Ben- 
jamin Franklin the "learned printer." We have better harvesters now 
for spare hours in the Chatauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the 
evening classes of the Young Men's Christian Association, and the 
correspondence schools. We have added in the Appendix of several 
courses of reading that may be followed with small expenditure of 
time or money by one or a group. 

As to the fundamental laws of success, the new replies we have 
added, after a score of years, tell the same story as the earlier replies. 
It was somewhat risky to gather the replies of hundreds of living 
men, but it is interesting to recall that not one quoted in the first edi- 
tion of this book has come to financial or moral wreck, though many 
have ended with increasing honor the careers then at their noon. 

Hon. John D. Long, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, ex-iSecretary 
of the Navy, and now President of the New England Sunday Pro- 
tective League and other philanthropic and reformatory agencies, 
gives the following passwords to success: " Courage, industry, cour- 
tesy, honesty, system, promptness, pure habits; association with the 
best ; avoidance of whatever demoralizes, but also of being a prig ; 
good, healthy participation in all good, wholesome, cheery things." 
Hon. Martin A. Knapp, President of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, gives as the open secrets of success: " Uprightness, industry, 
and aptitude for one's chosen vocation." Turning to a group of busi- 
ness men, we find the w^ay to success thus mapped out by Mr. Samuel 
W. Bowne, a manufacturer of New York City: "Success in a busi- 
ness like mine depends upon having an eye single to one purpose. 
and using all one's brains and energy in his own particular line. 
Then, if the article presented to the public has genuine merit, success 
is almost invariably assured. Of course, the art of advertising is 
very essential to a great success." 

Of the causes of failure, he says: " My observation has been that 
one of the main causes of failure in commercial life is not keeping 



VI IJSrTEODUCTIOlT. 

the accounts thoroughly, and so not knowing one's exact financial 
condition. Another is, taking risks in things outside of one's legiti- 
mate business, which jeopardize the capital required in one's own 
business. My principle in life has been never to contract debts that 
I could not pay. When I engaged in my present business, about 
thirty years ago, my partner and myself (T had little capital) decided 
to save one-half our income, which we did for a number of years. 
This gave us the foundation for our subsequent success in business. 
In professional life failure is often due to the attempt to do too many 
things rather than concentrate efforts in special lines to which one is 
peculiarly adapted." 

Mr. Joshua L. Bailey, a wholesale merchant of Philadelphia, 
named as elements of success: "Steadiness of purpose, persistence, 
industry, tact, and unswerving integrity. " In reply to the inquiry 
whether any watchword had come into his life like an influence, he 
gives two — one familiar, the other ought to become so: 

" 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.' The following 
words, also, which I heard from the lips of Louis Kossuih, as he 
spoke on the steps of Independence Hall in 1851, have been a con- 
stant stimulus to me: ' There is no difliculty to him who wills.' " 

Now let us look at a sample or two of the opinions of literary and 
professional men. Mr. E. J. Wheeler, New York, names as causes of 
failure: "Mind on something else outside office hours; fear of do- 
ing more work than is paid for; lack of enthusiasm in and love for 
the work; self-indulgence." Of the helps to success, he names the 
following: "Love for the work, patience with its drudgery, a capac- 
ity for enthusiasm, an open and clean mind, good personal habits." 

Rev. R. S. Mac Arthur, D.D., pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, 
New York, who is also an autlior and lecturer, says that for success 
in any profession, ' * the essentials are : good health, high ideals, capac- 
ity, economy, hard work, and noble character." 

Recently, in a New England manufacturing city, we noted a change 
that bodes no good for business or politics or religion. We found 
that the old men who founded and developed the mills were all total 
abstainers and had been from their youth, but their sons, who were 
succeeding to these great responsibilities, had nearly all of them come 
back from college with drinking habits. Formerly wealth went 
back to the people in the third generation through such effects of 
luxury, but in these days, when trusts have safeguarded fortunes 
against rapid waste, this retribution and corrective cannot work so 
rapidly. But it will work — perhaps as an element in solving the 
trust problem. 

The reference of Dr. Mac Arthur and others to "health" as a 
help to success suggests as a most interesting study in biography, to 
which the Appendix points the way — the success of scores of men 
who were born physically defective. The list includes club footed 
Byron, halting Akenside, frail Spinoza, deformed Malebranche, dis- 
figured Sam Johnson, Walter Scott, "a pining child"; Sir Isaac 
Newton, "who might have been put in a quart pot when born " 
Voltaire, who was for some time too small and weak to christen 
Charles Sumner, who weigtred three and a half pounds at birth 
Lyman Beecher, who weighed but three pounds at first, and was laid 
aside by his nurse to die; Goethe, Victor Hugo, and D'Alembert, 



IKTRODUOTIOl?^. VU 

who were so weak at birth that they also were not expected to live, 
and also Pope, Descartes, Gibbon, Kepler, Lord Nelson, Sir Chris- 
topher Wren, James Watt, John Howard, Washington Irving; 
William Wilberforce, and many others whom the world has delighted 
to houor as mental giants— a list that well-born children could hardly 
match — whose bodily weakness in infancy in any but a Christian 
land would have marked them as unworthy to be raised to man- 
hood. The study of such a group ought to be an inspiration to boys 
handicapped by any physical weakness, and it also suggests that 
mind and will may conquer the most adverse circumstances. In the 
study of biography we shall also come on men whose influence can- 
not be explained without taking into account the mind of God. It is 
useless to seek for all the springs of the greatness of a Luther or a Lin- 
coln in their commonplace parents or their environment. Such 
epoch-making men proclaim the Divine Providence. The world's 
leaders have never been the atheists, but men of faith, who believed 
profoundly that they were "workers together with God." 

WILBUR F. CRAFTS. 
Washington, D. C, September 1, 1905. 



TO 

YOUNG MEN, 

IN WHOSE OPENING CAREERS I HAVM 
A GREAT INTEREST, 

THIS VOLUME IS DEDIGATEI> 

IN THE HOPE 

THAT IT MAY HELP SOME OF THEM TO 

TRUE SUCCESS. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Intkoductiok iii 

I. Choosing a Birthplace 13 

11. Parents and Poverty 22 

III. Will and Work 31 

IV. Environment and Character .... 39 
V. Commercial Courage 47 

VI. Business Maxims, Bad and Good ... 55 
VII. The Watchwords of Our Leaders . . 66 
VIII. What Churches May Learn from Com- 
merce 76 

IX. Business Maxims Applied . to Church 

Work 86 

X. Is IT Necessary to be Honest in Order 

TO BE Poor ? 94 

XI. Money and Morals 105 

XII. The Business Men of the Bible ... 112 

XIII. "Can Business be Conducted Success- 

fully ON Strict Christian Prin- 
ciples?" 116 

XIV. Counterfeit Success 126 

XV. What Successful Men Say of Success . 137 

XVI. What Successful Men Say of the Fail- 
ure OF Others 151 

XVII. "Poor in Abundance'' 159 

XVIII. How TO Fail 168 

XIX. The Bright Side of Failure 177 

xi 



Xll CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XX. Stealing as a Fine Art, and Some of its 

Modern Artists 181 

XXI. Polite Pilfering . . 191 

XXII. Labor and Luck 209 

XXIII. Relation of Work to Rank 219 

Appendix of Letters on Success 225 

Reading Courses 265 

Topical Index 291 

Books by Wilbur F. Crafts 299 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOISrS. 



Portraits : 

Mr. Andrew Carnegie Frontispiece. 

Mr. Peter Cooper " 

Hon. William E. Dodge « 

" John Wanamaker '' 

President Grover Cleveland 30 

Theodore Roosevelt 30 

Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge 30 

" William Jennings Bryan . . . . .". . 30 

Mr. Justice Brewer 65 

Hon. Whitelaw Eeid 65 

Rev. R. S. McArthur, D.D 65 

Prof. William Osier, M.D 65 

Hon. John D. Long 104 

Mr. Anthony Comstock 104 

Gen. Neal Dow 104 

" Clinton B. Fisk 104 

President Carroll D. Wright, LL.D 141 

C. W. Eliot, LL.D 141 

A. D. White, LL.D 141 

J. H. Seelye, LL.D 141 

"Riches Take Wings'' 223 

Autographs 224 



xiii 



We are by no means willing to accept that "doctrine of devils" that all 
cities must be Sodoms to our boys. All through the Bible, from Abraham, 
who sought " a city that hath foundations, whose Maker and Builder is God," 
to John, beholding the Christian city " coming down from God out of heaven," 
prophetic souls expected— and prophets of to-day still expect— the city of Cain 
to give place to the city of Christ in this world. That is the plain meaning of 
Christ's prayer, which is also a promise that His will shall some time "be done 
on earth as in heaven." This involves no incredable miracle, but only the ex- 
tension of the unselfishness often seen in the family to the whole brotherhood 
of man. 

Does it seem to any Christian citizen a thing impossible that God's will 
should be so done on earth? It was so done by Christ, and He said: " I have 
given you an example that you should do as I have done." It was not in mir- 
acles that he did God's will " as in heaven " and as our example, for we cannot 
initiate him in that, and heaven has no doubters and so needs no miracles. 
Christ did God's will "as in heaven," and as our example in putting service 
above selfishness, as declared in that word, " The Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister," And he is not the only one who has put 
service above selfishness. If we could bring together all the fathers and 
mothers who put service above self where their children are concerned, we 
could build a holy city on earth. 

How many of you would walk across the street to hear a preacher whom 
you knew cared more for his salary than for the uplifting of men? Would you 
have a physican whom you knew cared more for his fee than the saving of 
the lives of your loved ones? The engineer sees that the bridge ahead is down. 
He has but the twinkling of an eye to decide what to do, whether to jump and 
save himself or to stay at his post and meet death to save his train. What 
does he do? He saves his train every time . They have in the mountains of 
Burma " Christian villages," where the law of Christ is actually the law of 
politics, society, and business. If " Christian villages " are possible in Burma, 
we can have Christian cities here.— i'Vom author''s lecture on " The Holy City 
Coming Down.^'' 

Washington Gladden: Good government calls for the recognition of civic 
ideals : for a vision that can discern, not merely the city that stands upon the 
earth, but the fairer city which is coming down from heaven to earth, after 
whose pattern the earthly forms must be continually reshaped, . . . There 
is need of thinking much of a kind of civic life that is not yet, but that might 
be, and that ought to be, and that must be, if there is a God in heaven ; a city 
whose officers shall be peace and whose exactors righteousness ; a city whose 
homes shall be sacred and secure, whose traffic shall be wholesome and bene- 
ficent ; whose laborers shall go forth to their cheerful toil unburdened by the 
heavy hand of legalized monopolies ; whose laws shall foster no more curses, 
nor open the gates to whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie ; whose 
streets shall be full of happy children, playing in safety and learning the great 
lessons of civic piety, and whose citizens on any shore shall find their thoughts 
turning homeward with a great longing. 

Henry Drummond : Then pass out into the City. Do all to it that you have 
done at home. Beautify it, ventilate it, drain it. Let nothing enter into it that 
can defile the streets, the stage, the newspaper offices, the booksellers' count- 
ers ; nothing that maketh a lie in its warehouses, its manufactures, its shops. 
its art galleries, its advertisements. Educate it, amuse it, church it ; Chris- 
tianize capital, dignify labor ; join Councils and Committees ; provide for the 
poor, the sick, and the widows. So will you serve the City. 

14 



CHOOSING A BIRTHPLACE. 

The air we breathe, the house in which we dwell, the very way in 
which it fronts the sun, the degree of light and of shade that falls 
upon us with the flying hours, all weave their delicate influences 
into the tissues of our being.— Chapin. 

For the sake of the young men whom I might be able to 
reach from the platform and through the press, I have gathered 
facts and opinions in regard to the causes of Success and 
Failure, from a large number of the prominent men of to-day. 

In harvesting these golden statistics from the fields of ripe 
experience, I have used, as a reaper, printed circulars contain- 
ing the following 

INQUIRIES : 

1. Was your boyhood, up to fourteen years of age, spent in 
the country, in a village, or in a city ? 

2. In either case, were you accustomed to engage in some 
regular work, when out of school, either in the way of self- 
help or for your parents ? 

3. At what age did you begin business life or undertake 
self-support ? 

4. Did you use tobacco previous to the age of sixteen ? 

5. What maxims or watchwords, if any, have had a strong 
influence on your life and helped to your success ? 

6. What do you consider essential elements of success for a 
young man entering upon such a business or profession as 
yours ? 

7. What, in your observation, have been the chief causes of 



16 SUCCESSFUL MEIS" OF TO-DAY. 

the numerous failures in life of commercial and professional 
men ? 

8. Are you a church member ? 

Replies to these questions have been gathered, by letters and 
personal interviews, from about five hundred persons, and the 
list has been increased from published sketches. 

Of these persons, many are widely known, and the others 
hold leading positions in their own communities as proprietors 
of long-established and successful business enterprises, or as 
tried and proved members of secular professions. The list 
does not include ministers, except in a few cases where clergy- 
men have become eminent authors, editors, or publishers. 

The largest number of replies are from New York, Chicago, 
and Washington, but every section of the country has been 
heard from, and there can be no doubt that the replies fairly 
represent the successful men of the country — meaning those 
who have won both influence and respect to an unusual degree. 

It should be said that most of my correspondents disclaim the 
title of " successful men," but reply to the questions " for 
the sake of the young men " — the *' Open Sesame " by which 
I have obtained these golden opinions from men already over- 
tasked. 

I did not send the questions to the survivor of the " James 
Boys^' and the stock gamblers, nor to the escaped convicts of 
the whiskey ring. No amount of money can make a highway 
robber or any other kind successful. If " a fair exchange is 
no robbery," what shall we call an exchange of bullets, or bets, 
or poisons, for a fortune ? Every promissory note keeps be- 
fore us the great commercial truth that only a fair exchange of 
money for " value received " is legitimate business. A bet, 
whether on a fast horse or the price of his grain next month, is 
not a fair exchange for a thousand or a million dollars, and so 
can not be said to be *' no robbery." Betting is a brother of 
burglary. It is well and truly said by Henry Ward Beecher : 
" He who is not willing to give, either in thought, in skill, in 



CHOOSING A BIRTHPLACE. 17 

convenience, by distribution, a fair equivalent for the money 
which he lays up, wants to steal it. " Even millions of plunder 
does not constitute success, which must include a good name. 

The ambitious and covetous Ahab murdered Naboth to get 
possession of his vineyard. The ambitious and covetous Napo- 
leon murdered thousands of Naboths to get possession of their 
vineyards. Was Napoleon less a murderer than Ahab because 
one killed by retail and the other by wholesale ? New York 
has Napoleons of wholesale robbery. Does multiplying rob- 
bery subtract it ? The excess of a virtue is a vice, bat is the 
excess of a vice a virtue ? Or is it a virtue to make a fortune 
out of people's vices ? Selling well-known incitements to vice 
and crime, either in the shape of alcoholic beverages or de- 
moraUzing literature, is no better than selling burglars' tools. 
The public are beginning to see this and say it, and so the 
liquor dealers, through the New York Herald^ recently cried 
out for a law that should make their business respectable. As 
well try to get Jadas canonized and the devil vindicated. 
" Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor." 

I have aimed to gather statistics only from those who have 
at least this much of true success, that they have acquired what- 
ever position or fame or money they possess by " fair exchange" 
of useful commodities or valuable services. 

In one of these papers (an exception in this respect to all the 
others), a prominent judge and statesman, in answering the 
question as to elements of success, says, *' Chance and circum- 
stances do the most." In this remark we recognize two old 
foes masked in new faces — the Philistine theology, " It was a 
chance that did it," and the devil's proverb, " Circumstances 
make men." That is not true, as I have the documents to 
prove. It is the worst kind of a lie — a half truth. It has just 
enough truth to make it dangerous, as a wolf in sheep's cloth- 
ing. Let us examine this fleecy wool, that not only hides a de- 
vouring error but is also pulled over the eyes of young men to 
prevent them from seeing that no unfavorable circumstances 
need keep them from true success, and tuat no lavoring eir- 



18 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

cumstances are likely to drift them into it without their own 
earnest efforts. 

What seems like " chance" has made Presidents by pistol 
shots and millionaires by mining discoveries. Take two of 
the world's richest men — the wealthiest of the Eothschilds, 
with his two hundred millions, and Mackey with his I do not 
know how many millions — the last represents sudden weallii 
•^allied by fortunate discoveries in the mines, while the first 
stands for the slower accumulation of industry and honesty. 
But if instead of two we should take the world's two thousand 
richest men, excluding those who have simply received wealth 
by inheritance, we should find that fortune seldom favors fools. 
Folly and Fortune are not often or long in partnership. For- 
tune speedily withdraws with all the capital. Where you find 
honey you may be sure busy bees have been at work. 

And yet, as one of our foremost Brooklyn judges intimates, 
surroundings and what is called " luck" do have some in- 
fluence on success. The statistics I have gathered show clearly 
that circumstances at least help to make men. For instance, I 
find by the answer to the first question, that while only forty- 
seven per cent of our population of working age reside in the 
country districts, they furnish fifty-seven per cent of our suc- 
cessful men, while the cities, with twenty percent of the popula- 
tion, furnish seventeen per cent. A very large majority of our 
famous men were farmers' boys. As the cities fall three per 
cent below their quota, and the country is ten per cent above 
its ratio, it appears that the country averages thirteen per cent 
above the cities in the proportion of its boys who become 
eminently successful. A writer in the Contemporary Review 
calls attention to the fact that very few of the prominent men 
of New York City were born in the city. The great majority 
came from the country. Rev. Washington Gladden ascertained, 
by personal investigation, that nearly all the leading men of 
Springfield were country born and bred, although statistics on 
a larger scale are more favorable to cities. Even in Boston, 
considered the place of all the world to be born in, a large ma- 



CHOOSING A BIRTHPLACE. 19 

jority of the leading merchants and professional men came from 
the country. 

The first conclusion from these facts is that a man who 
wishes to succeed should select a country farm for his birth- 
place, and thus enroll himself among such illustrious farmer 
boys as Senator Edmunds, General Logan, General Howard, 
Alexander H. Stephens, Anthony Comstock, Orange Judd, 
John Jacob Astor, Elihu Burritt, John Wanamaker, Lewis 
Miller, Jacob Estey, WiUiam E. Dodge, D. L. Moody, Joseph 
Cook, Mark Hopkins, and Henry Maityn Dexter. Our statis- 
tics suggest that the *' Fresh Air Fund " should be increased 
in its scope and amount, to enable the Tribune and " The 
Children's Aid Society" to carry out on a larger scale their 
plan of transporting city boys to permanent homes in the coun- 
try. A country environment of pure air, plain food, regular 
out-door work, early sleep, and freedom from cigarettes and 
saloons, gives the farmer boy an advantage of thirteen per 
cent when, in young manhood, he comes to the city to enter 
upon a commercial or professional life. 

Cigarettes in boyhood are about as useful in building up a 
strong body as dynamite would be in building a home. " No 
cigarettes for boys" is a sign in one drug store. Why not in 
all ? It is a law in Mississippi and in our military schools. It 
ought to be on the statute-books of every State and among the 
rules of every school and home. Every boy who would suc- 
ceed should make and enforce such a prohibitory tobacco law, 
for himself at least. 

Our successful men did not feed themselves in boyhood on 
cigarettes and late suppers, with loafing as their only labor, and 
midnight parties for their regular evening dissipation. Such 
city-trained bodies often give out when the strain comes in 
business, while the sound body and mind and morals of the 
man from the country hold on and hold out. 

The replies I have received show that four fifths of the men 
who now fill positions of large responsibility in our land did 
not use tobacco before they were sixteen years of age, and even 



20 SUCCESSFUL MEN^ OF TO-DAY. 

those who did, with three exceptions, mention the fact with 
regret. Whoever may defend the use of tobacco by full-grown 
men,* no one advocates its use for growing boys. 

Several years ago Dr. Decaisne, one of the most eminent 
members of the Societe d' Hygiene in Paris, investigated the 
influence of tobacco on the circulation of boys from nine to 
fifteen years of age, and discovered that not only did it pro- 
duce palpitation of the heart and intermittency of pulse, but 
also a peculiar condition of the blood itself allied to anaemia. 
Laziness, stupidity, and indisposition to apply the mind to 



* In this connection, many of my readers will recall a recent book 
on *' Study and Stimulants" by A. A. Eeade, giving tbe habits of the 
leading literary men of to-day in regard to the use of alcoholic 
drinks and tobacco. As M'ould be expected, many of the European 
authors use wine, and see no more harm in it than our fathers did 
fifty years ago, before the temperance agitation had fairly begun. 
As to the use of tobacco by full grown men, the opinions are divided, 
but no one advocates its use hy growing youth, either in this book or any 
other. It appears from this book that Dr. Holmes does his work 
without using stimulants of any kind— he wants a clear head. In a 
letter to the editor, Mr. W. D. Howells says he never uses tobacco ex- 
cept " in a very rare self defensive cigarette, where a great many 
other people are smoking ; and I commonly drink water at dinner. 
When I take wine, I think it weakens my work and my working 
force the next morning." The late Dr. George M. Beard says that he 
found that on himself " alcohol has rather a benumbing and stupefy- 
ing effect, whatever may be the dose employed, whereas tobacco and 
opium, in moderate doses, tea and especially coffee, as well as cocoa, 
have an effect precisely the reverse." Mark Twain does not use alco- 
holic stimulants in writing. He says : " I have never seen the time 
when I could write to my satisfaction after drinking one glass of 
wine," It is interesting to know that Darwin drank a glass of wine 
daily at the suggestion of his physician to prevent dizziness, but he 
thought it did him no good. But he says : " I have taken snuff all 
my life, and regret that I ever acquired the habit, which I have often 
tried to leave ofif, and have succeeded for a time." Professor Tyn 
dall thinks it is much better to get on without either wine or tobacco 
And Charles Eeade says he tried to smoke five or six times, " but it 
always made me heavy and rather sick ; therefore, as it is not a nee- 



CHOOSING A BIRTHPLACE. 21 

study were traced, with probable accuracy, to the habit of 
smoking in many of these lads, and when formed early he 
found that smoking gradually brought a predisposition to alco- 
holic stimulants, and that in some instances the starting-point 
of a criminal career dated from the first secret indulgence of 
the vice, producing by slow degrees, when acting upon a consti- 
tution still extremely flexible, a complete moral and intellectual 
transformation as well as physical degeneracy. 

From a business standpoint boys should remember that 
tobacco burns up their future capital. When Admiral Farra- 
gut's son was ten years old the father said in his hearing that 
when he was old enough to make a contract and keep it, he 
had a bargain to offer him. The son rose up and asked the 
father what the contract was. The admiral said, " The pro- 
posal I intend to make is this : If you will not smoke or chew 
tobacco, drink intoxicating or strong wines, till you are twenty- 
one years of age, I will then give you one thousand dollars." 
" I am old enough to make that bargain now," said young 
Farragut. " I will accept the offer." The bargain was closed, 
and when young Farragut was twenty-one the cash was handed 
over to him. A smoking boy can save a thousand dollars in a 
few years in the same way, besides saving physical energy and 
moral power. The country boy averages less smoke than his 
city cousin, but more success. 



essary of life, and costs money and makes me sick, I spurned it from 
me. I have never felt the want of it. I have seen many people the 
worse for it. I have seen many people apparently none the worse 
for it. I never saw anybody perceptibly the better for it." Thomas 
Hardy has no faith in wine, and never smoked in his life. Dr. 
Edward A. Freeman tried to smoke when young, but found the 
habit "nasty," and gave it up. He has used wine and ale, but 
thinks a good sleep the best stimulant. The Chicago Tribune, 
which is certainly not prejudiced in favor of temperance, admits 
*' that the result of all this testimony seems to be that alcohol is an 
injurious stimulant," while the testimonies in regard to the effect of 
tobacco on full-grown men seem to vary with temperament. 



II. 

PARENTS AND POVERTY. 

Every character is the joint product of nature and nurture.-- 
Gakfield. 

Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify ; but nine times out of 
ten the best thing that can ha^jpen to a young man is to be tossed 
overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my 
acquaintance I never knew a man to be drowned who was worth the 
saving. It is the pride of every American that many cherished names, 
at whose mention our hearts beat with a quicker bound, were worn by 
the sons of poverty who conquered obscurity and became fixed stars 
in our firmament. There is no horizontal stratification in this coun- 
try like the rocks in the earth, that hold one class down below for- 
evermore, and let another come to the surface to stay there forever. 
Our stratification is like the ocean, where every individual drop is free 
to move, and where from the sternest depths of the mighty deep any 
drop may come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls. — Garfield. 

Average Britons reverence pedigree ; average Americans, perform- 
ance ; the highest Britons, ancestry ; the highest Americans, achieve- 
ment. — Joseph Cook. 

The replies speak of other circumstances over which we 
have no control, besides birthplaces, that help to make men. 

Two seeds are planted in the same environment of soil and 
sunlight. One grows into an oak, and the other becomes only 
a cabbage-bead. Shortly after Chief-Justice Chase had gone 
for the first time to Washington, he was returning to the 
"West. ' The train stopped at a little station in Virginia, and he 
was informed that it was the birthplace of Patrick Henry. He 
immediately left the car and stood upon the platform, admiring 
the magnificence of the scenery that opens before the travel- 
ler. He said, " What an atmosphere ! What a view ! What 



PARENTS AND POVERTY. 23 

glorious mountains ! No wonder that Patrick Henry grew 
here." One of the natives, who was standing by his side, 
quietly replied, "Yes, sir, but as far as I have heard, that 
landscape and those mountains have always been here ; but we 
haven't seen any more Patrick Henrys.^'' Men differ in nature 
as well as surroundings. The nature of the seed that is planted 
has more to do with its success than the atmosphere in which 
it grows. We happen to know that in Patrick Henry's favor- 
able environment his noble mother had a mightier influence 
than his native mountains. Like mother, like man. 

Several of our successful men name ' ' a good mother' ' and 
" faithful training" among the causes of their success. That 
many others did not do so is due to the tendency that makes 
us forget to thank God for our commonest and greatest bless- 
ings, such as air and light. Peter Cooper's success is partly 
explained in the fact that his mother was " a rare blending of 
sweetness and fire." 

If you would be successful, select not only a country birth- 
place, but also a good grandmother. Heredity is mightier 
than homestead. " The just man walketh in his integrity : 
his children are blessed after him." You are selecting a good 
grandmother, or the opposite, for the coming man in your 
wedding of to-day, besides selecting a secret of your own 
success * or failure, as is intimated in some of these replies — for 
instance, that of a wealthy New Yorker, who says, " To marry 
early and well I consider one of the sources of success." On 
the other hand, " selfish and extravagant wives" and " unhappy 
marriages" are given among causes of failure, and also " post- 
poning marriage and getting into bad habits." " The man 
without a home is more dangerous than an asp or a dragon," 
says the proverb. " A large majority of the criminals are 
bachelors " echoes every prison report, Lamartine's trinity, 
the father, the mother, and the child, tends to make every 
family a ".holy family." Brutal natures are softened by 

* Proverbs 14 : 1 ; 18 : 22 ; 19 : 14 ; 31 : 10-31. 



24 SUCCESSFUL MEI^ OF TO-DAY. 

"Little hands on breast and brow, 
To keep the loving heart-cords tender." 

Marriage is a part of a young man^s environment which he 
can largely control. If he cannot choose his grandmother, 
he can at least choose a wife. " If at first you don't suc- 
ceed, try, try again." 

Another favoring environment of boyhood is a moderate 
allowance of poverty, which was the trainer of Girard, Stewart, 
Astor, and Vanderbilt. It is often spoken of in biographies as 
a disadvantage which was overcome, but when one of the 
*' wealthy curled darlings of our nation" overcomes the perils 
of early abundance, he is a yet more exceptional victor. Sev- 
enty-three per cent of our successful men belonged to families 
so poor that they had to work most of the time out of school 
hours, which to these boys were generally few. They were not 
great because they had little schooling, but in spite of it. I 
regard the putting of children into business before they have a 
good education, except in cases of necessity, as a piece of rob- 
bery, cutting off the future income of the man to gain a pit- 
tance from his boyhood, which is also imperilled by handling 
money too early, with all its temptations to dishonesty and 
vice. " Going into business too young" is given by John 
Wanamaker among the causes of failure in life. 

Many of our great men went to school but three or six months 
in the year, and most of them left school altogether before they 
were sixteen, because of the necessity that they should help 
their parents or pay their own way. Seventy per cent of all 
my correspondents entered upon business between the ages of 
thirteen and seventeen. 

Necessity is the mother of inventors. " Poverty is the 
mother of all the arts." " Hunger teaches many things." 

Thurlow Weed was so poor in boyhood that on a cold March 
day he had to wrap pieces of cloth about his bare feet in place 
of socks and shoes. Thus shod, he walked several miles in the 
wintry cold to borrow a history of the Reformation. Luxury 
raises few such men, but many a " barefoot boy" has climbed 



PARENTS AND POVE-KTY. 25 

the ladder of success by sheer energy and honesty — " Adastra, 
per aspera." A fair start in life, as in numerals, is 0. 

Nelson W. Aldrich, the Senator from Rhode Island, is said 
to have entered the city of Providence in the same modest 
manner that the illustrious Whittington entered London — on 
foot, and with his clothes slung over his back. Being a bright, 
active youth, he soon procured employment in a wholesale 
grocery house ; but, with a genius superior to his station, he 
rose in life, till he is now, at forty, the head of one of the largest 
firms in the State, and a Senator. 

Elihu Burritt is another typical child of poverty. He was a 
poor boy, the son of a farmer, the youngest of ten children. 
He became an apprentice in a blacksmith shop at eighteen. 
He was eager to study, and so bought some Greek and Latin 
books, carrying them in his hat or his pocket, and learning 
from them as he worked at the anvil. From these he went to 
French, Spanish, and Italian. He always had his book near 
him, and improved every spare moment. He studied seven 
languages in one winter. He taught school for a year, but his 
health failing, he went into the grocery business. Soon his 
money was all swept away by losses. He left New Britain, his 
native town, and walked to Boston, and then to Worcester, 
where he again took up the anvil, not ashamed to earn an 
honest though humble living. This lack of success at twenty- 
seven so shaped his life as to make him a scholar rather than 
a man of business absorbed in money-making. When he was 
thirty years of age he had learned all the language of Europe 
and several of Asia, such as the Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaidaic. 
Governor Edward Everett, of Boston, offered him a course in 
Harvard University, but he replied that he preferred to work 
with his hands while he studied. He soon began to lecture, 
and everybody was eager to hear " The Learned Blacksmith." 
He lectured sixty times the first winter, and then went back to 
his anvil. After this he visited Europe several times ; was our 
consul at Birmingham, England ; became the warm friend of 
John Bright, Richard Cobden, and other eminent men ; wrote 



26 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

books, lectured, edited newspapers, and was always foremost 
in visiting the poor and aiding them. He started a course of 
" Penny Readings" for the poor in his own town, which a 
thousand persons attended. He was a most earnest Christian ; 
built a chapel at his own expense, and often held meetings 
himself. He was never married, but was devoted to his sister 
and nieces. He believed that it is not genius that wins places 
for people, but hard work and a pure life. He always chose 
the best of associates, believing that a boy's friends make or 
spoil him. He died recently, at sixty-eight years of age, be- 
loved by the people of two hemispheres. Where there is a 
will to be good and great, there is surely a way. 

These facts about the advantages of poverty in boyhood have 
a message for the rich, which is well expressed by one of my 
correspondents, a New York merchant, who says : 

" I believe one fruitful cause of injury to young men of 
good standing in society is the lavish amount of pocket-money 
their parents allow them when they are boys. 

" In boys of fine fibre it leads to extravagance and ignorance 
of the true value of money, and in those of a coarse grain it 
leads to dissipation and the devil. I think all parents, how- 
ever well to do, should give a fixed allowance per week to their 
sons, so long as they support them, and that it should always be 
small. The piossession of money at a time when a tempter 
comes is often the leaven of hell." 

Another favoring environment, already hinted at in speaking 
of poverty, is learning to work regularly, if only for an hour or 
two a day, at a very early period of life. This habit of early 
industry is even more powerful than a country environment in 
preparing a boy for the hard work of winning success, as may 
be seen from the fact that while only fifty-seven per cent of the 
successful men come from the country, seventy -three per cent 
of them, including many of the city and village boys, were 
accustomed to regular work out of school hours. In several 
cases boys who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths 
had the spade of early and regular labor put in their hands by 



PARENTS AND POVERTY. 27 

wise parents. It was so with Congressman Darwin R. James. 
One of our most distinguished college presidents, in replying 
that he did no regular work out of school hours during his boy- 
hood, remarks, " I consider this a matter of regret." He 
recognizes the value of early habits of industry, apart from 
their relations to poverty, as a preparation for a noble manhood. 

Milton Bradley, the well-known Springfield publisher, calls 
attention to the fact that the coming woman needs to be trained 
to work, as weU as the coming man, if his failure is to be pre- 
vented. He writes : '^ I think domestic troubles and worry 
are prominent hindrances to proper work in a great number of 
cases, and this comes largely from want of proper practical 
training of the girls in their department of life. The introduc- 
tion of machinery and the division of labor have robbed the 
boys of their trades, and the introduction of Irish machines in 
our homes has robbed the girl of a chance to learn housekeeping. 
So systematic education in both becomes necessary." 

The Atlanta Constitution recently described four of its news- 
boys, brothers in blood and pluck, whose eaily habits of indus- 
try have insured their success : 

" These four boys started a few years ago selling newspapers. 
They made ten cents apiece the first morning they went to 
work, and for two winters thereafter they went barefooted 
through the snow and sleet in the freezing dawn on their morn- 
ing rounds. ¥rom the very first they saved a certain percent- 
age of their earnings, which they wisely invested in Atlanta 
real estate. The oldest of them is now eighteen years of age, 
and the youngest twelve. They have supported an invalid 
father and their mother all the time, and now have property 
worth considerably over $5000, houses from which the rent is 
$20 a month, and $200 stock in a building and loan associa- 
tion. They have educated themselves the meanwhile, remain- 
ing from school this year in order that they might work the 
harder and build a home for their parents, that is to have a 
front parlor and a bay window in it. These little fellows have 
been carriers, newsboys, errand boys, and apprentices about 



28 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

the Constitution office, and one of them is now assistant 
mailing clerk. Their net savings from their sales and sal- 
aries, exclusive of their rents, has been $20 a week for this 
year. Next year they can do better, and by the time the 
oldest of the brothers is of age they ought to have a com- 
fortable little fortune. 

" What these boys have done other boys can do. The 
whole secret is steadiness, sobriety, industry, and economy." 

What a characteristic story of poverty and pluck is that 
of Andrew Carnegie ! His father, a Scotch weaver who 
worked with hand-looms, thrown out of employment by 
improved machinery, came to Pittsburg when " Andy " 
was but ten years of age. The boy went to work as a 
bobbin-boy at 11.20 a week. At thirteen he was promoted 
to the post of engineer of the factory engine. At fourteen 
he became telegraph boy, and was promoted at sixteen, for 
quick intelligence, to the post of telegraph operator at a 
salary of 1300 a year. About this time his father died, and 
the support of the family devolved on him. He soon got 
a dollar a week extra for copying telegrams for the papers, 
which he called his " first bit of capital." His salary went 
for household expenses, but the dollar surplus he invested 
wisely, first in the express business, then in sleeping- cars, 
and, finally, as an outcome of his management of transpor- 
tation in the Civil War, in a plant to manufacture iron 
railway bridges. And so by alertness and economy and 
untiring energy he came to be the world's most distinguished 
manufacturer and philanthropist, putting as much talent 
into giving as he had before put into getting. 

Another conqueror of poverty was John Hay, who, having 
graduated from law school, became secretary to President 
Lincoln, and was so poor that when Mrs. Lincoln objected 
to his eating at her table, he frankly said he could not eat 
anywhere else, and would eat at second table if he must. 
The poor youth became the American Secretary of State 
and the world-famed " Golden Rule Diplomatist." 




STATESMEN 



III. 

WILL AND WORK. 

If the power to do hard work is not talent, it is the best possible 
substitute for it. Things don't turn up in this world until somebody 
turns them up. A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. Luck is 
an ignis fatuus. You may follow it to ruin, but never to success. — 
Gabfield. 

"Wake the strong divinity of soul, 

That conquers chance and fate. — Akenside. 

There is a good deal of truth mixed into the false proverb 
that " Circumstances make men," which is nevertheless only a 
wolf in wool. 

In the ascertained facts as to the larger percentage of men 
out of jail and in success from the country than the city, from 
good mothers than bad, from the ranks of the poor than fron: 
those of the rich, from those who early learned to work than 
from all others, there is a good deal of wool to weave into the 
proverb ; and yet it is not " all wool a yard wide," but a 
damaging half-truth — that is, a lie. 

Nine tailors cannot make a man with all this wool, without 
his own will and work. When a man will, he will. " They 
can who think they can." " Character is a perfectly educated 
will." 

Whether a boy is from farm or city, rich or poor, weak or 
strong, talented or not, will and work are sure to win. Wishes 
fail, but wills prevail. Labor is luck. 

All men are not born equal, the Declaration of Independence 
to the contrary notwithstanding. But the inequality can be 
greatly lessened by will ard work. The city boy has greater 



32 SUCCESSFUL MEliT OF TO-DAY. 

odds against him in his physical and moral environment than 
the country boy, but it is not always the boat that gets tho 
choice of position that wins the race. President Chadbourno 
put pluck in place of his lost lung, and worked thirty-five years 
after his funeral had been arranged. Longfellow succeeded 
without the advantage of an early struggle with poverty or the 
plough. He was a city boy, as also Neal Dow, Schuyler Col- 
fax, President Eliot, Peter Cooper, and Charles Francis Adams. 
Moses was not spoiled by being a cultured city boy in a bad 
environment. You can win as he did, by loyalty to God, even 
in a city home. 

The villages, which include about thirty-three per cent of our 
population, have been the training-places of only twenty-three 
per cent of our successful men— a less favorable report than 
even the cities- -due perhaps to the fact that village boys lack 
at once the country boy's discipline of work and the city boy's 
educational opportunities. But even from the villages have 
come such men as President White of Cornell, President 
Seelye of Amherst, John Sherman, Governor Chamberlin, 
and Governor St. John. 

It is a great disadvantage to have weak or unworthy parents, 
but even such odds may be overcome. A hare inherits a 
swifter pace than a snail, but the snail may distance him in the 
end by slow and sure progress day after day. It is not usually 
the most brilliant scholar in a college class that wins the vale- 
dictory or the highest place in after life. His very smartness 
is his peril, for he depends upon it rather than upon hard work, 
which is the winning horse in the race of life, much as he 
seems to lag at the start. Smartness is far behind him on the 
home-stretch. 

One of the ablest and noblest lawyers of New York City is 
the son of an ignorant Irish drayman. One of my schoolmates 
in early boyhood was the son of a weak-minded donkey-driver 
of the village. He is now a prominent teacher in Massachu 
setts. Many of our eagles had no better nests. 

On the other hand, a grandson of Patrick Henry recently 



WILL AND WORK. 33 

turned up as a vagrant at Memphis police head- quarters. He 
possesses a fine education, but is intemperate. Blood will tell 
— sometimes. 

After all, it is better to make our descendants proud of us 
than to be proud of our ancestry. Ascent is better than de- 
scent. Better be the foundation of a new pyramid than the 
tapering apex of an old one. 

Too much poverty or riches is an unfavorable environment, 
but Kitto was born in apoorhouse, and Mayor Low of Brooklyn 
was not spoiled in a home of wealth. Secretary Brewster also 
was '' reared in comparative affluence." 

It is a proper subject for regret that every son does not in 
youth, like the boys of the ancient Jews * — the wealthiest as 
well as poorest — learn some whole trade, which he can use, if 
necessary, in manhood, and which will in any case develop 
muscle and habits of industry. A boy's studies would be made 



* " "We should especially direct our attention to earning a liveli- 
hood by a trade or handicraft, by husbandry or tending cattle, as 
did our forefathers. Even the judges, kings, and prophets in Israel 
were husbandmen— for example, Gideon, Saul, Elisha, etc. The 
patriarchs, Abraham, etc., were shepherds. The wisest of the Tal- 
mudists M'ere handicraft men— for instance, Rabbi Hillel was a wood- 
cutter Rabbi Judah was a smith." 

He who does not let his child learn a trade paves his way to thievery. — 
Talmud Kedushin 29. 

[From " Doctrines of Faith and Morals for Jewish Schools," et3., 
pp. 138, 162.] 

It might also be urged in favor of learning a boy a whole trade that 
he may thus be saved from the many disadvantages, mental as well 
as monetary, of the mDdern machine-shop, whereby the division of 
labor a man cannot make a whole pin, but spends his life in making 
heads or points only, having no joy or intellectual exercise in his 
monotonous work, and being unable to take up any other work when 
his department has an oversupply. In such places, as Buskin has 
well said, " We manufacture everything except men." Garfield 
echoes that sentiment, saying to young men, " Do not, I beseech 
you, be content to enter upon any business which does not require 
and compel constant intellectual growth." 



34 SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAY. 

more effective by combining with them at least an hour or two 
of systematic manual work. If physical education were thus 
combined with mental and moral culture, we should not have 
so many sickly ministers, editors, and ts?.chers. whose weak 
bodies stagger under the work which is put on them by their 
strong minds — " too heavy for the animals they ride." Nor 
should we have so many criminals, for " No trade" is the Open 
Sesame of our jails. Some years ago I found ninety per cent 
of the convicts in the Massachusetts State prison at Charlestown 
had come in by that password. But even those who lack the 
vigor which comes from early habits of labor may win by will 
and work, in spite of this unfavoring environment. 

An unmarried man works against great odds, but Alexan- 
der H. Stephens, Elihu Burritt, and ex-Vice-President Ferry 
were successful bachelors. More remarkable still, Socrates, 
Milton, and John Wesley succeeded in spite of bad wives. On 
this list it will not be safe to enumerate any who are living. 

It is a great disadvantage to enter upon professional or even 
business life without a thorough education. I have examined 
the educational record of the seventy foremost men in Ameri- 
can politics — cabinet officers, senators, congressmen, and gov- 
ernors of national reputation — and I find that thirty-seven of 
them are college graduates, that five more had a part of the 
college course but did not graduate, while only twenty-eight 
did not go to college at all. As not more than one young man 
in five hundred goes to college, and as this one five hundredth 
of the young men furnish four sevenths of our distinguished 
public officers, it appears that a collegian has seven hundred and 
fifty times as many chances of being an eminent governor or 
congressman as other young men. In this connection it may 
be said incidentally that five sevenths of these public men are 
lawyers, one seventh are in mercantile life, one tenth are edi- 
tors, and the other two were professional soldiers. And yet, 
while a college training is so great an advantage, the non-gradu- 
ates include Edmunds, Sherman, St. John, Randall, Kelley, 
Teller, Hiscock, Proctor Knott, Levi P. Morton, Cornell, Fos- 



WILL AND WORK. 35 

ter, Mahone, Hale, Brown, Simon Cameron, James, Windom, 
and Ferry of Michigan — all of them peers of the graduates 
among the seventy. 

There is hardly a conceivable disadvantage of birthplace, 
parentage, poverty, riches, or bodily condition that some of 
our successful men have not overcome, and, in the language of 
one of their mottoes, " What man has done man can do." 
Indeed, can is only another name for will. Will equals can. 
He that will can. " Strong men have wills ; weak ones have 
only wishes." Whatever disadvantages you may have, if you 
have also a will to work, you may checkmate them and win 
true success. In the battle of life there is a survival of the 
fittest, but not (among men at least) in the sense in which the 
materialist uses the term as applying to physical superiority. 
In the contest of wishes and wills, the wills win — not those who 
are strongest of body or even of intellect. 

Materialistic evolutionists would make man (as they have 
God) a mere stick on the tide, that goes wherever it is carried, 
toward vice or virtue. When I bought pure milk of my milk- 
man yesterday morning, according to this theory of Tyndall 
and others, I couldn't have bought it of anybody else, nor 
could my milkman have sold me chalk and water instead of 
pure milk. Our grandmothers, our food, our climate — in short, 
our environment — made it impossible for either of us to do 
otherwise than we did ! 

The facts of biography as well as our own consciousness veto 
this theory by showing that will and conscience make circum- 
stances instead of being ruled by them. One of America's 
-prominent astronomers is only four feet high, and would hardly 
outweigh a boy of ten years. But there are few who could 
outweigh him in intellect and achievement. Alexander H. 
Stephens with a dwarf's body did a giant's work. With 
only a broken scythe, by sheer force of will and work, he 
overmatched in the harvest those who had fine mowing- 
machines. It might have been said of him, as of Candlish, 
" There's nae muckle o' him, but there's a deal in him." In- 



36 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

(liana's greatest governor was Oliver P. Morton, who went on 
crutclies. " It is the mind that makes the man." Chief- 
Justice Chase in his boyhood gave little promise of his future 
career. He was near-sighted, had a bad impediment in his 
speech, and was stoop-shouldered, shambling and slouchy in 
his appearance and gait. Owing to the death of his father and 
the poverty of h.is mother he was adopted by his uncle. Bishop 
Chase, of Ohio. Estey, of organ fame, was given away at four 
years of age, and had no schooling worth mentioning, and yet 
he has won true success — not only money but public esteem 
— by will and work. Peter Cooper went to school bat one 
year, and then only half the time because of his parents' pov- 
erty and the necessity for him to work ; but will and work 
stored both his safe and his mind. His own struggles led him 
to found the Cooper Union for other children of poverty. 
Edmund Driggs, of Brooklyn, who is honored for what he is as 
well as for what he has, for his double worth, began his climb 
up the ladder as a common sailor. Senator Brown, of Georgia, 
was nineteen years old before he learned to read, but such odds 
did not prevent him from being a judge, governor, and senator. 
Orange Judd is another triumph of clear grit over environ- 
ment. Without a dollar of help not earned by himself, or the 
prospect of any, he started for the school where he was to fit 
for college ; earned corn by working for neighboring farmers : 
carried ]t himself to the mill to have it ground, and brought 
back the meal to his room ; cooked it himself as mush ; milked 
a cow or two daily for his pint of milk per day ; and so lived 
on mush and milk as his chief subsistence for months together. 
Afterward he w^orked his own way through Wesleyan Univer- 
sity and a three years' post-graduate course at Yale. Professor 
Townsend, of Boston University, the author of " Credo" and 
many other books, worked his way in similar fashion through 
Amherst, boarding himself at a cost of forty-five cents per 
week. It is related of Congressman W. W. Crapo that he 
helped to pay his own way through college by doing clerical 
work^ His father before him was too poor when a boy to buy 



WILL AKD WORK. 37 

books, and, being in want of a dictionary, prepared a manu- 
script one, walking from his home in the village of Dartmouth, 
Mass., to New Bedford to replenish his store of words and 
definitions from the town library. The father finally became a 
governor, and the son is likely to have the same title some day. 

" Who loves his work and knows to spare, 
May live and flourish anywhere." 

" Set a stout heart against a stiff hill," or, as the Japanese 
say in symbol language to their boys in giving them kites in the 
shape of fish. Be like the carp that swims upstream and jumps 
the waterfalls. Any one can drift with circumstances. It 
takes pluck to stem an unfavorable current. 

There are few circumstances over which a strong will has no 
control. " A boa-constrictor woke up hungry from a three 
months' nap and caught a rabbit, which he bolted whole in the 
usual way. This did not satisfy the cravings of his capacious 
stomach, and so he went afield in search of further victuals, 
and presently came to a rail fence, which he essayed to get 
through. But the lump caused by the defunct though undi- 
gested bunny stopped him, like a knot in a rope, when his 
head and a few feet only of his body had passed between the 
rails. Lying in this attitude, he caught and swallowed another 
rabbit which had incautiously ventured within his narrow sphere 
of action. Now, what was the state of affairs ? He could 
neither go ahead nor astern through the fence, being jammed 
by his fore-and-aft inside passengers, and in this embarrassing 
position he was slain with ease. The boa-constrictor was con- 
trolled by circumstances which should have been controlled by 
him. He should have bidden the fence ' Good morning ' be- 
fore swallowing the second rabbit." 

A man fails in his plans of life and lays it to unfavoring cir- 
cumstances. The fact too frequently is that he wrought' out 
his own failure by swallowing liquor or luxuries beyond his 
means. When he found himself in financial difficulties he 
completed his ruin by going further into debt and continuing 



SB SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAY. 

his extravagances. As the Oriental proverb says of the proud 
man in difficulties, " The rat can not squeeze through the hole 
because he has tied a broom to his tail." " When pride 
Cometh, then cometh shame. " 

" Poets are born, and not made," says the proverb. Nay, 
for poets are partly self-made. A boy of ten, replying to the 
question, " Who made you ?" said, measuring the length of a 
baby with his hands, " God made me so long, and I growed the 
rest." The mistake of the little deist in leaving out the God 
of his growth suggests the truth that we are partly self-made 
men. God and motherhood and birthplace partly make us, 
but we must make the rest by will and work. " There is a 
Divinity that shapes our ends," but it makes a difference 
whether we ourselves hew them rough or smooth. "If you 
want to fill a round hole, make a ball of yourself." Circum- 
stances shape putty, but men make circumstances. In the 
words of Holland, 

" We build the ladder by which we rise, 
***** 
And we mount to the summit round by round." 

It has been well said by Henry Ward Beecher, ' ' with regard 
to the young workingman of America, that if ordinary health 
is given him, and ordinary mental endowments, if a young man 
in the community is not above all possible want by the time 
that he is thirty-five, if by then he does not stand upon a com- 
petency, it is because he is an immoral man. There is oppor- 
tunity — under our heaven, on our soil, and among our prolific 
influences for the geneses of life, there is opportunity which no 
man can miss — except he sins in the missing." 

" Every man the architect of his own fortune," wrote Presi- 
dent Carter of Williams College, as a watchword, in his reply 
to my inquiries, and then erased it and wrote, " No, I will 
take that back." It is only half the truth. Every man is a 
joint architect with God of his own fortune. " God makes 
capacity, man makes character." " You can not dream 
yourself into a character, you must forge yourself one. 



IV. 

ENVIRONMENT AND CHARACTER, 

Character is both a result and a cause — a result of influences and a 
sause of results. — Gaefield. 

Authors are the creators or the creatures of opinion ; the great 
form an epoch, the many reflect an age. — Diseaeli. 

True men are neither made nor ruled by circumstances. It 
is a common fallacy that a man must lower his moral standard 
to the customs of the community in which he resides. As one 
follows the multitude to do evil by some trick of trade, he says 
to his conscience and to his minister, " They all do it, and so I 
have to do it. A man must live. If I doTi't do it, somebody 
else will." This last, as Dickens reminds us, is the excuse of 
thieves : " If I don't pick the old cove's pocket, somebody else 
will ; he will be no better off, and I shall be worse off." 

A gentleman spoke to a confectioner in regard to his complex 
offence of breaking both human and divine laws by trading on 
Sunday, and at the same time tempting children to embezzle for 
candy the money given them for the Sunday-school collection. 
He made no defense except that all the other candy stores did 
it, and that he couldn't make a living w.thout Ids illegal Sunday 
trade. Similar excuses are made by grocers ; barbers, news- 
dealers, and other Sabbath-breakers. Postmen are required by 
the very government of the land to violate the spirit at least of 
the State Sunday laws and do " servile work" i*i collecting and 
sorting mail on the Lord's day. " We have to do it," is their 
only excuse for Sabbath-breaking. No wonder that men who 
are robbed of their Sunday sometimes learn to rob the mails. 
It is not strange that those who are trained to break the fourth 



40 SUCCESSFUL MEK OF TO-DAY. 

commandment sometimes go on with the lesson and break the 
oio-hth. Tlie p(4ition of the National Temperance Society 
against Sunday work in post-offices ought to be widely circu- 
lated. 

A reformed man acts as an agent and manager in the sale of 
starch to beer brewers, not only against his conscience but in 
constant peril of falling into his old habits by his tempting 
associations. He does it because no other equally lucrative 
employment seems available. The worst of it is that his em- 
ployers are also nominal Christians, and at the same time indi- 
rect allies of intemperance. The excuse of employer and of 
employed is, "A man must live." 

Another man, against his conscience, assists in the manage- 
ment of a sporting paper, whose influence he would not for a 
moment defend. He does it because it seems to be the most 
convenient way of making a living. He makes his business an 
excuse for not being a Christian, and yet does not abandon it. 
Better to die in domg right than to get rich in doing wrong, 
for " a man must live" — forever. 

" If I don't sell these sensational and corrupting papers," 
says the poisoner of youth, " somebody else will." Anthony 
Comstock declares that nearly all the vile publishers whom he 
arrests make the plea, " A man must live." We should reply 
as a certain judge did when a thief made this excuse, " I don't 
see any necessity for it." AVhen Luther's friends attempted 
to dissuade him from going in a. certain path of duty because it 
might become a path of death, he replied, "It is necessary 
that I should go ; it is not necessary that I should live." 
There is nothing a true man nmst do but die in the path of 
duty. While we live, let us live. 

Take as your motto, " I had rather die than be debased." 
Instead of that, men say, in selfish and cowardly apology for 
their wrong-doing, ''We have to do it, the competition is so 
strong." On that plea a business house prints " list prices" 



El^^VIRONMENT A2!^"D CHARACTER. 41 

in which the letters " s t" are superfluous — prices far above 
the real value of the article, far above its real price, far above 
what the dealers expect to get from intelligent customers — 
partly for the pretense of making a discount and partly to allow 
agents a chance to cheat those who don't know any better than 
to pay what is asked. Below " list price," " discount price," 
"wholesale price," "lowest price," "very lowest price," 
is the " bottom price," and even that is often a false bottom, 
like those in too many baskets and boxes. One hundred fruit 
dealers were arrested at one time in Chicago for selling such 
boxes of strawberries. " They all did it." 

Instead of honesty's one unvarying retail price, modified, if 
at all, only by a uniform discount for cash, and honesty's uni- 
form wholesale price to all who purchase a like quantity, there 
are in many of our most respectable firms to-day so many 
prices that the dealers often show their troubled consciences by 
apologizing for the fraud. They say, " We have to do it be- 
cause others do." How much that sounds like the clanking 
chain of a slave to circumstances ! We can almost smell the 
pottage for which Esau sold his birthright. Better lose a 
morsel of meat or a little money than the birthright of one's 
honest manhood. 

" We have to do it," says the barber's assistant who robs 
his conscience of its weekly food and culture by Sunday labor 
in violation of the laws of the State and of God, at the bidding 
of his employer. Why not answer with Peter, " We ought to 
obey God rather than man." Peter risked his life for princi- 
ple. Why shouldn't you risk the loss* of pay or position ? 

At Stockholm Jenny Lind was once requested to sing on 
Sunday at the King's palace, on the occasion of some great 
festival. She refused, and the King called personally upon her 
— in itself a high honor — and as her sovereign commanded her 
attendance. Her reply was, " There is a higher King, Sire, 
to whom I owe my first allegiance." And «he refused to be 
present. 

I once knew an expressman who refused to sarry intoxicating 



42 SUCCESSFUL MEIS" OF TO-DAY. 

liquors. Nor did his fidelity make him poor. But other 
carriers bury their conscience under the excuse, " They all do 
it." It was recentl}^ ascertained by oflRcial inspectors that 
about 400,000 gallons of milk are brought to New York City 
every day in the cars, and that it is the custom of the dealers 
to add a quart of water to a gallon of milk. That means a 
daily robbery of the people to the extent of $40,000. The 
excuse which assembled milkmen make for such a crime is that 
all the whiskey dealers also water their stock. 

" We have to do it," sajs the Sunday-school publisher as 
he binds up worthless books in worthless bindings to meet a 
senseless demand for cheap books. " The people are to 
blame." 

" They have to do it," says a reviewer, commenting on the 
fact that most of the American novels of to-day are Frenchy, 
with some illicit love as their central dish. He lays the blame 
on the people, saying that when they demand purer fiction the 
writers and publishers will furnish it, as if literature were only 
a camp-follower, not a leader. " What the people want in a 
newspaper is not only news, but intellectual and moral leader- 
ship. The chief writers for our daily press are brave and 
scholarly men, but they seem to lack a large proportion of 
characteristic American courage in their discussion of issues un- 
popular with great leading parties in both Church and State. ' '* 

" We have to do it," said a reporter of a Chicago daily to 
General Logan, his personal friend, about whom he had been 
writing campaign slanders at the bidding of his employers, as 
if he were but an irresponsible pen in the hands of those who 
paid him ; as if his employers would have to take the guilt of 
his li.GS at the judgment. Edward Everett Hale justly said, in a 
recent speech to young journalists of Boston : " It is pretty 
bad to be engaged on Tuesday writing up a revival, and then 
engaged on Saturday on another paper writing it down. The 
press of this country has been losing influence for thirty-five 

* Joseph Cook. 



ENVIROKMBNT AND CHARACTER. 43 

years, because the opinion is gaining that writers have sold their 
swords. ' ' 

' ' We have to do it, ' ' says the petty lawyer as he uses his 
position, not to shield his client from injustice, but rather to 
accomplish injustice by his undeserved acquittal. He forgets 
that he is first a man, with conscience and responsibility, and 
second a lawyer. 

Among cases of conscience, one of the commonest is that of 
the clerk or runner who asks if it is very wrong for him to tell 
the lies about prices and goods which his employer requires. 
One of the leaders of temperance work in New York was once a 
runner for a mercantile house in that city, by whom he was in- 
structed to attach himself to country buyers at the hotels, drink 
with them, take them to theatres — and brothels if they wished 
— anything to get their trade. Strange that any employe 
should for a moment think that his employer's orders can 
relieve him of the moral responsibility of his own words and 
deeds ! Runners, reporters lawyers, are first men, responsible 
to God. When the falsifying runner goes to " the lake of 
fire," in which '' all liars shall have a part," where will the 
man be ? 

This dilemma may be illustrated by a decision of Judge 
Kent, the well-known jurist. A man was indicted for burglary, 
and the evidence showed that his burglary consisted in cutting 
a hole through a tent in which several persons were sleeping, 
and then projecting his head and arm through the hole and ab- 
stracting various articles of value. It was claimed by his 
counsel that, inasmuch as he did not actually enter the tent 
with his whole body, he had not committed the offense 
charged, and must, therefore, be discharged. Judge Kent, in 
reply to this plea, told the jury that if they were not satisfied 
that the whole man was involved in the crime, they might 
bring in a verdict of guilty against so much of him as was thus 
involved. The jury, after a brief consultation, found the right 
arm, the right shoulder, and the head of the prisoner guilty of 
the offense of burglary. The judge sentenced the rie^ht arm» 



44 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

the right shoulder, and head to imprisonment with hard labor 
in the State prison for two years, remarking that as to the rest 
of his body he might do with it what he pleased. You cannot 
separate your manhood and your clerkship. If one is guilty, 
the other must also bear the penalty. 

" They all do it, and so we have to," says the grocer as he 
sells his imitations and adulterations, and puts his inferior fruit 
in the bottom of his short-measure baskets. " The people are 
to blame, for they will have cheap goods, and if we don't furnish 
these imitations they will get them elsewhere." It is the old 
excuse of Aaron for making the golden calf — " The people are 
bent on mischief" — as if that was a reason for helping them on 
in it. It is the old excuse of Pilate as he washed his hands of 
all responsibility for the death of Christ, which could not have 
occurred without his co-operation. "The people," he said, 
"are to blame. I have to do it." But such hands won't 
wash, and through all countries and centuries the Church says 
of Christ in its creed that He " suffered under Pontius Pilate." 
So honesty suffers from the practices of all who deceive and 
defraud under the pretence that the people will have it so. 

Instead of following Pilate, let us imitate Nehemiah, as he 
says, in the midst of fashionable wrong-doing, while they all 
do it, " So did not /. " He did not fall into the popular mis- 
take of supposing that you can subtract the fraud by multiply- 
ing the thieves. Multitudes are ready to say, " Oh, anything 
but that : I can't be singular. I must do as others do. I shall 
be talked about if I don't. Somebody will say something un- 
pleasant. ' ' A modern Nehemiah, who dared to be singular in 
his loyalty to principle, was Hon. William E. Dodge, who at a 
great dinner in Fortress Monroe, where there was not another 
teetotaller, turned down his wine-glass ; who withdrew from 
the Union League Club because it sold wine to its members, 
and gave up his official positions and profitable stock in three 
railroads because they decided to run Sunday trains. He 
would not have even as much part in such a wrong as Saul had 
in the stoning of Stephen, that of a silent *' consenting." 



ENVIRONMENT AND CHARACTER. 45 

President Hayes in his banishment of wine from White House 
dinners was another Nehemiah who would not exchange princi- 
ple for custom. No matter what the few or many do, " What 
is that to thee ?" " Enter ye in at the narrow gate." 

" They have to do it," says a New York paper, apologeti- 
cally, for the moonshiners who distil illicit whiskey in North 
Carolina. It half excuses them on the ground that they can't 
afford to pay the taxes, and have no other way to get money. 

" We have to keep it up for revenue," says the Viceroy of 
India of the infamous opium traffic. "If we don't do it, 
somebody else will." " We have to do it," echoes Lord 
Hartington and the London Times. 

In many business careers there has been a steady retreat of 
conscience from breastwork to breastwork. A young man as 
he starts out in business promises himself that he will be truth- 
ful in prices and invoices, and eschew all invitations and decep- 
tions — in short, that he will conduct his business and life on 
Christian principles. After a while he takes the Sunday paper, 
then advertises in it ; then travels on Sunday for business or 
pleasure ; then does a little Sunday trading ; and so goes on to 
deceiving prices, double invoices, false labels, etc. A young 
merchant of Boston, whose firm for a number of years have 
been slowly working their way upward toward a commanding 
position, recently said, in a tone of semi-despair, that he had 
about come to the conclusion that " to carry on business — their 
business at least — on Christian principles, and make a success of 
it, was impossible.'" To succeed in any other way is to fail. 
Alas that there are so many who have surrendered the outer 
breastworks of strict integrity and are flying the flag of the 
cowardly Erasmus : " I will not be unfaithful to the cause of 
Christ — at least as far as the age will permit me,'''* A better 
flag would be, Trust and Truth. 



Honesty is not the best policy ; the commonplace honesty of the 
market-place may be — the vulgar honesty that goes no farther than 
paying debts accurately ; but that transparent Christian honesty of 
a life which in every act is bearing witness to the truth, that is not 
the way to get on in life ; the reward of such a life is the Cross. — 

F. W. KOBEETSON. 

When Regulus was sent by the Carthaginians, whose prisoner he 
was, to Eome, with a convoy of ambassadors to sue for peace, it was 
on condition that he should return to his prison if peace was not 
effected. He took an oath to do so. When he appeared at Rome he 
urged the senators to persevere in the war and not to agree to the 
exchange of prisoners. That advice involved his return to captivity. 
The senators and even the chief priest held that as his oath was 
wrested from him by force, he was not bound to go. " Have you re- 
solved to dishonor me?" asked Eegulus. "I am not ignorant that 
tortures and death are preparing for me ; but what are these to the 
shame of an infamous action, or the wounds of a guilty mind ? Slave 
as I am to Carthage, I have still the spirit of a Boman. I have sworn 
to return. It is my duty to go. Let the gods take care of the 
rest. " Eegulus accordingly returned to Carthage and was tortured to 
death. — Smiles. 

A young man was in a iDosition where his employers required him 
to make a false statement, by which several hundred dollars would 
come into their hands that did not belong to them. All depended on 
this clerk's serving their purpose. To their vexation, he utterly re- 
fused to do so. He could not be induced to sell his conscience for 
any one's favor. As the result, he was discharged from the place. 
Not long after, he applied for a vacant situation, and the gentle- 
man, being pleased with his address, asked him for any good refer- 
ence he might have. The young man felt that his character was un- 
sullied, and so fearlessly referred him to his last employer. " I have 
just been dismissed from his employ, and you can inquire of him 
about me." It was a new fashion of getting a young man's recom- 
mendations, but the gentleman called on the firm, and found that 
the only objection was that he was " too conscientious about trifles." 
The gentleman had not been greatly troubled by too conscientious 
employes, and preferred that those intrusted with his money should 
have a fine sense of truth and honesty ; so he engaged the young 
man, who rose fast in favor, and became at length a partner in one 
of the largest firms in Boston. " A good name is rather to be chosen 
than great riches. " Even unscrupulous men know the worth of good- 
principles that cannot be moved. 



V. 

COMMERCIAL COURAGE. 

K there be one thing upon this earth that mankind love and admire 
better than another it is a brave man— it is the man who dares to 
look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil. — Gaefield. 

Certain mouthfuls of articulate wind will be blown at us, and this 
what mortal courage can front ? — Caelyle. 

" Budge," says the Fiend. " Budge not," says my conscience. — 

Launcelot, in Shakespeare' s Merchant of Venice. 

Why should we be afraid of anything with Him looking at us who 
is the Saviour of men ? — Geoege MacDonald. 

I KNOW full well by some experience in business life that to 
" trust in God and do the right" is easier said than done. It 
is not easy, nor is it impossible. It takes the courage of an 
Arnold Winkelried to break through the serried spears of a 
wicked fashion. But are there not brave Winkelrieds in busi- 
iiess life as well as in soldiery, who will break the lines of 
wrong even if it breaks them ? Who has the courage to abol- 
ish sham prices and unfair discounts and restore the one-price 
system which Stewart courageously introduced at a time when 
it was no more needed than it is to-day in certain circles of 
business ? I do not believe such honesty leads to any loss in 
the end, but if it should it would be more than compensated in 
the saving of conscience to the runners, and the cleanness of the 
money received. It requires a courage greater than that which 
faces a cannon to repudiate a business custom that is at the 
same time dishonest and popular ; but if you as a Christian man 
do not thus meet the issue, " What do ye more than others ?" 
Why carry the oars of Christianity if you are going to drift 



48 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

with the current ? Such drifting is rebuked by the courage of 
one of the Chinese converts in New York, who refused to work 
on Sunday at the peril of losing a lucrative position. There 
can be no doubt about the genuineness of his conversion, what- 
ever we may think of those who in such cases obey man rather 
than God. 

Goethe says that '* for the flowering of the best gifts circum- 
stances must be propitious, but the paramount function of the 
gifted is to resist old circumstances and create new ones ; to 
break through the surroundings and fences of timorous customs 
and leap toward success. ' ' 

If it is the privilege of the gifted to resist adverse circum- 
stances, much more is it the duty of the godly. 

Oh for a heroic period in this grandest and rarest of heroisms 
—the daring to be right and do right against social or com- 
mercial fashions and customs — the daring to be singular and 
peculiar in utter loyalty to truth ! 

What if a man should sacrifice his fortune, or even starve as 
a martyr to honesty, as others have done for God and home 
and native land ? The man who should fail, and if need be 
starve, rather than adulterate his goods for successful competi- 
tion, might not be canonized in this world, but in the God's-eye 
view he would be one of " the noble army of martyrs," no less 
glorious than if he had lost his property and life in the persecu- 
tions of Nero. Oh for men who would die rather than lie,"* 
who would starve rather than cheat ! We need the Jennie 
Deans type of integrity, that cannot be bribed to falsehood even 
by the peril of loved ones. 

* The catechism of the "reformed " Jews, which is called " Doc- 
trines of Faith and Morals for Jewish Schools and Families," and is 
published by Terrell, Dietz & Co., of Louisville, Ky., wisely devotes 
considerable space to cases of conscience, buc discusses them very un- 
wisely. For instance, it says, " The laws of the Thorab [Pentateuch] 
must be suspended in case of personal danger, excepting the worship 
of idols, incest, and murder.'" See also pp. 123, 138, 148, 157, 162, 
which permit lying in emergencies, etc. 



COMMERCIAL COURAGE. 49 

Christ said, " Defraud not." No circumstances or environ- 
ment can make a man disobey that law. 

A wealthy lady of Canada, when she became a Christian, felt 
that she ought to recommend religion to others by speaking in 
the prayer-meeting. She feared that she would break down, 
but said, at length, "/ can at least stand up and fail for 
Christ.'" Have you courage as a business man to fail toward 
earth to keep from failing toward heaven ? " The only failure 
a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose seen 
to be best." 

But men seldom fail by being too honest. " Godlinese has 
promise of the life that now is." David never saw the right- 
eous begging bread. We seldom do. Integrity brought no 
loss to Job, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and the three 
worthies, all of whom dared to maintain a higher moral stand- 
ard than the people about them. 

The raising of tobacco, whose influence is only evil and that 
continually, and the raising of hops or corn or rye directly for 
the production of intoxicating drinks — questions of conscience 
with many farmers — suggest the following story as a partial 
solution of the difficulties. Senator Voorhees, of Indiana, in a 
recent speech against the prohibitory amendment, asked the 
following question : " My farmer friends, what is to become of 
your great corn crop in this county if prohibition is adopted ?" 
An old Democratic farmer rose and said, " Do you icallj 
want an answer to that question, Mr. Yoorhees ?" " Yes, my 
friend," said the Senator, straightening himself to his full 
height, " I am seeking for information." " Well, then," 
replied the farmer, " I will tell you what we will do with our 
corn crop. We will raise more hogs and less hell.^^ That 
recalls a temperance boy's saying : "If I was as poor as a knit- 
ting-needle, and hadnUany more money than a hen has teeth, 
Pd never sell rum.'' ^ 

Many men have said to me, " I can't be a Christian in my 
business, for there are many things we have to do because others 
do them, that I couldn't do if I was a Christian, and I can't 



50 SUCCESSFUL ME]S" OF TO-DAT. 

leave the business without running the risk of having nothing 
to support my family, and a man must live." " For a piece 
of bread that man will transgress." 

Yes, a man must live — forever. There's the rub. He had 
better take no risk of ruining that forever by cowardly surren- 
ders to dishonest customs, which are wrong for him as a man 
as surely as for a Christian. Religion cuts off nothing that is 
right. Wrong is wrong, regardless of church books. Better a 
dinner of herbs with a hope for that forever than a stalled ox 
with a guilty conscience and a dread of judgment to come. 
" They all do it," perhaps, but ^'' Every man shall give account 
of himself to God. ' ' 

History shows that a true man can be a Christian in the most 
unfavorable environment, if he cannot escape from it, as Christ, 
in the corrupt surroundings of Nazareth, " did no sin." 
" Man without religion is the creature of circumstances ; but 
religion is above all circumstances, and will lift him above 
them." Samaria was notoriously corrupt, but there were 
" good Samaritans." Abraham, during nearly all his godly 
life, was environed by those who worshipped idols. " They 
all did it," but he didn't. His example led others out of their 
fashionable sins. Joseph, when he was with the idolatrous 
Egyptians, did as the Egyptians ought to do, worshipped and 
proclaimed the true God. His courage brought him gain 
rather than loss. In the palace of infamous Ahab lived a 
godly prophet — Obadiah. The king ordered the murder of 
certain good men. Obadiah did not obey, saying, " I have to 
do it because my employer requires it," but rather he dared to 
do right at the risk of his life, and saved them. He was a 
saint in Jezebel's household. If one could be a saint there, it 
is possible anywhere. 

Daniel was a saint in the corrupt and idolatrous households 
of Darius and Belshazzar. He dared to stand alone for princi- 
ple, and instead of losing his head, crowned it. The boy did 
not malse much of a mistake who read that verse aboui 



COMMERCIAI- COURAGE. 51 

Daniel's spirit, ** As for this Daniel, an excellent spine was in 
him." We need more men of moral backbone. 

I would like to hang in business establishments, where little 
or large dishonesties are every day excused because " They all 
do it," the picture of the three worthies out on the plains of 
Babylon, refusing to bend with the multitude in the worship of 
gold, even though the threatening furnace blazed before them 
Some would have said in such a case, " A man must live, and 
we shall lose our political offices if we don't do as others do. 
We have to do it." How much manlier their brave "We 
will not," and their unbending integrity ! When principle 
bids us stand upright, it is better to break than to benu. How- 
ever, they did not lose by their loyalty to principle. Such tried 
integrity is sure to win promotion at last, even though there is 
a furnace trial at first. Under that picture I would write the 
words of James Russell Lowell: 

" They are slaves who dare not be 
I had rather be right alone than wrong with any one or all. 
In a multitude of counsellors there is safety only when God and 
Conscience are chief. 

Add to these saints in heathen households,* Mordecai in the 
palace of the corrupt Ahasuerus, and Nehemiah in the godlesf 
mansion of Artaxerxes, and, most wonderful of all, " Saints \r, 
Caisar's, that is, Nero's household." 

Nero, as you know well, was a human tiger who delighted in 
blood, especially the blood of Christians, hundreds of whom he 
butchered in the arena to make a Roman holiday— the corrupt 
people finding as rare sport in the death-agony of the Chris- 
tians whose purity rebuked them, as did their heartless em- 
peror. The petty persecutions which Christians had to bear in 
Caesar's household every day may be inferred from the rough 
picture on the ruins of the imperial palace at Rome, represent- 

* Female saints also in such households- Esther, and the wife of 
Caatitas, Herod's steward (Luke 8:3). 



52 SUCCESSFUL MEI4" OF TO-DAY. 

ing an ass nailed to a cross and a person kneeling to it, while 
below are the wordr^, " Cebes worshipping his God." To Ro- 
mans as well as Greeks the cross was foolishness, and Cebes and 
other saints in Caesar's household were the butt of ceaseless 
ridicule for their faith, which doubtless in the end cost them 
their lives. And yet in the most unfavorable environment they 
were " saints." ^ If they did it you can do it, by a " world- 
and-devil-proof goodness." 

* XJlhorn, in his " Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, "thus 
describes the commercial courage of the early Christians of Home : 
" Not merely at church, but at home also, in their vocations and on 
the street, Christians desired to appear as Christians. They guarded 
with the greatest care against any connection with heathenism ; they 
avoided with the utmost conscientiousness everything which could in 
any way be construed as a denial of their faith. Difficult, indeed, 
must have been their task, for their entire life was compassed by a 
network of heathen customs which a Christian must every moment 
rend if he would remain true to his God. 

' ' Many special relations of life brought the Christians into still 
more difficult situations. A master would order a Christian slave to 
do something wholly unobjectionable from a heathen point of view, 
but sinful according to a Christian standard, and yet the slave was 
completely in the power of his master, who could have him, if diso- 
bedient, tortured, and even killed. How should the Christian wife, 
who had a heathen husband, fulfil her Christian obligations, attend 
divine worship, visit the sick, entertain strangers, distribute alms, 
without offending her husband ? How could the officer or the sol- 
dier perform his duties without denying his faith ? For long the two 
callings were deemed incompatible, and the officer preferred to re- 
sign his position, the soldier to leave the ranks, rather than to give 
up his Christian profession. Those who could not do this were of- 
ten obliged to purchase fidelity to their Lord with their blood. Many 
a person also, in order to become and remain a Christian, must have 
relinquished the trade or employment which brought him a liveli- 
hood. All who had obtained a support by the heathen cultus, ser- 
vants, and laborers in the temples, idol-makers sellers of incense, as 
well as actors, fencing-masters in the gladiatorial schools, etc., were 
admitted by the Church to baptism only on condition that they 
should abandon their occupations, and whoever as a Christian engaged 
in such employments was excluded from fellowship." 



COMMERCIAL COURAGE. 53 

A discussion of commercial courage suggests a further 
word about political courage, which is even more rare and 
no less needed. Courageous will is the exact quality that 
has made Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, with- 
out other exceptionally brilliant talents, the fullest defini- 
tions we have had of what "Chief Executive" in the 
national Constitution really means. One need not be 
convinced that everything they did was right in order to 
believe, as the American people undoubtedly do, that Avith 
unusual courage they have habitually chosen what seemed 
to them right, and held fast to it. The sneer of Mr. Roose- 
velt's enemies, "He continues to be a master of the ob- 
vious,'' is really only another way of pointing out what his 
friend, Jacob Riis, describes as the very quality that makes 
his life so encouraging, his " commonplace virtues," such 
as every earnest man feels he could and should display 
himself. Mr. Riis quotes the following utterance of Mr 
Roosevelt : " I know the very ordinary kind of man I ani 
to fill this great office. I know that my ideals are common- 
place. I can only insist upon them as fundamental, for 
they are that. Not in the least doing anything great, I can 
try, and I am trying, to do my duty on the level where I 
am put, and, so far as I can see the way, the whole of it." 
Mr. Riis adds to this the story of a woman who, at a dis- 
tance, had thought of Roosevelt as some great hero, but on 
closer acquaintance said: "Every time he did something 
that seemed really great it turned out, upon looking at it 
closely, to be only just tlie right tiling to do'' * We can all 
do that. We cannot all be President, but we can all be 
" right," a better thing when one must choose. Indeed, it 
was doing right in law enforcement in New York and at 
other times, when those politicians who despise the "ob- 
vious" and are masters of the devious said it would bring 
political ruin, that swept him by them all. 

* "Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen," pp. 268-9. 



BUSINESS MAXIMS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

Be not slothful in business. Owe no man anything. Let no man 
go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. Look not every 
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of another. 
Bear ye one another's burdens. Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so unto them. Do good unto all men. 

feanklin's moeal code. 
Silence. — Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself ; avoid 
trifling conversation. Order. — Let all your things have their places ; 
let each part of your business have its time. Resolution. — Resolve to 
perform what you ought ; perform without fail what you resolve. 
Frugality. — Make no expense, but do good to others as yourself ; that 
is, waste nothing. Industry. — Lose no time ; be always employed in 
something useful, but avoid all unnecessary actions. /Sincerity. — Use 
no hurtful deceit ; think innocently and justly ; and if you speak, 
speak accordingly. Justice. — Wrong no one by doing injuries, or 
omitting the benefits that are your duty. Moderation. — Avoid ex- 
tremes ; forbear resenting injuries. Cleanliness. — Suffer no unclean- 
liness in bod5^ clothes, or habitation. Tranquillity. — Be not dis- 
turbed about trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. Hu- 
mility. — Imitate elesus Christ. 

EUSKIN's MOTTOES FOE LABOEEES, 

1. Do your own work well, whether it be for life or death. 2. Help 
other people at theirs when you can, and seek to avenge no injury. 

3. Be sure you can obey good laws before you seek to alter bad ones. 

4. Bather die than make any destroying mechanism or compound. 

HINDOO SCHOOL-BOOK MOTTOES. 



Give charity willingly ; 
Give, then dine heartily. 
Keep down an angry thought ; 
Impatiently say not aught. 
The giver thou hinder not. 
Thine own wealth trumpet not. 
Say not ' 'Tis impossible ' ; 
Stout-hearted, thou art able. 
Walk thou most orderly ; 
Study thou steadily. 
Learning do not despise, 
And in youth become wise. 
In. season sow and toil ; 
Live net on wrested soil. 
Speak thou to edify ; 
Do what will dign fy. 
Mother and father feed. 
Rememt«er a kindly deed. 



Test, ere thou make a friend ; 
Made, hold on to the end. 
Sleep on silk-cotton bed ; 
Rest not too long thy head. 
Do well whate'er you do ; 
EnterVl on, carry through. 
Speak not deceitfully, 
Hard words, nor angrily. 
Speak not the marvellous ; 
Eschew the gambling-house. 
Waste not thy property ; 
Spoil not thou greedily. 
Stand in the royal way, 
And with the learned st.ay. 
Cleave t< > thy kith and kin ; 
A house that's large live not in. 
What you see, that only say ; 
With a serpent do not play." 

AvviAB, a Hindoo Pariah. 



VI. 

BUSINESS MAXIMS, BAD AND GOOD. 

Portia. Good sentences, and well pronoanced. 
Nerisa. They would be better if well followed. 

Shakespeabb. 

A WELL-KNOWN wHter once said to me, " George MacDon- 
ald's books came into my life like an influence.'''' Everything 
one reads makes upon him some impression, for good or ill, but 
there are some authors that enter into his very soul with destiny- 
shaping power. Thus came Cotton Mather's " Essays to do 
Good " into the early life of Franklin, and made it his highest 
ambition to be " a doer of good." Thus came Homer's Iliad 
and Odyssey into the mind of Schliemann, as he listened in the 
evenings of boyhood to translations of these works, read aloud 
by his father, who knew no Greek. The boy's enthusiasm was 
thus roused to promise that in manhood he would discover (as 
he has) the ruins of Troy — a suggestion of the benefits that 
may come to many by even such a knowledge of the classics as 
they can pick up in evenings and by translations, through such 
a plan of reading as that of the C. L S. C. 

Emerson's book on Nature caim' into Tyndall's life like an 
influence and made him a naturalist. Thus came Ruskin's 
works to Henry Ward Beecher, to teach him the secret of 
seeing> Thus " Things New and Old " helped to make D. L. 
Moody a great expositor, f Thus the book of Proverbs, used 

f Shakespeare's favorite writers were Plutarch and Montaigne. 
Milton's favorite books were Homer, Ovid, and Euripides. The lat- 



56 SUCCESSFUL MEX OF TO-DAY. 

as a first reader in the public schools of Scotland, has made its 
people terse in speech and industrious in action. It ought to 
be studied in every business college, that it might come into 
all commercial life like an influence, and make merchants more 
universally true in speech and wise in action. 

On the other hand, the records of crime show that sensa- 
tional stories of vice have come into many lives as a destroying 
influence. Such literature stands only second to liquors among 
the devil's recruiting officers. Shop windows filled with 
tempting pictures that poison the mind ought to be prohibited 
as surely as those filled with bottles of alcoholic poison for the 
body. 

Not only books and papers, but even single sentences often 
serve, like a railroad switch, to turn a life into the right or 
wrong track. A maxim or tnotto has come into many a life 
like an influence. That watchword of Christian society, " The 
greatest good of the greatest number, " which caught the eye 
of Jeremy Bentham in youth, made him a great political 
economist, seeking to work out that motto in society. 

Similar illustrations of the power of proverbs are given in the 

ter book was also the favorite of Charles James Fox, who regarded 
the study of it as especially useful to a public speaker. On the othei 
hand, Pitt took a special delight in Milton— whom Fox did not ap- 
preciate — taking pleasure in reciting from " Paradise Lost " the grand 
speech of Belial before the assembled powers of Pandemonium. 
Another favorite book of Pitt's was Newton's "Principia." Again, 
the Earl of Chatham's favorite book was " Barrow's Sermons," which 
he read so often as to be able to repeat them from memory ; while 
Burke's companions were Demosthenes, Milton, Polingbroke, and 
Young's " Night Thoughts. " This last was one of Garfield's favorite 
books. The books that came into Guthrie's life like an influence, 
besides the Bible, were Shakespeare, Scott's novels, "Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress," and Burns's poems. Dante's favorite was Virgil, Corneille's 
was Lucan, Schiller's was Shakespeare, Gray's was Spenser, while 
Coleridge admired Collins and Bowles. Dante himself was a favorite 
with most great poets, from Chaucer to Byron and Tennyson. Lord 
Brougham, Macaulay, and Carlyle have alike admired and eulogized 
the great Italian. The former advised tie students at Glasgow, that 



BUSINESS MAXIMS, BAD AND GOOD. 57 

replies I have received from hundreds of prominent men to the 
question, " What maxims or watchwords, if any, have had a 
powerful influence on your life and helped to your success ?" 
Two thirds of those replying to the circular of inquiries recog- 
nize no watchword as worthy of being called a special influence 
in their lives, but from the others a very interesting list of such 
mottoes has been collected, mostly the old ones, which have 
been so long the true " common law" of the world — prov- 
erbs that are more powerful than parties ; maxims that are 
mightier than magistrates. Let Christian wisdom write the 
watchwords of a nation, and I care little who makes its more 
formal laws. 

Many a man appeals daily to some proverb, good or had, as 
his supreme court. The proverb is his infallible pope. Some 
of the maxims to which men thus appeal as the end of con- 
troversy are false, or, worse than that, half true. The devil, 
as well as God, has a book of proverbs. Satan is too wise not 
to utilize the might of maxims. As he fights good songs with 
bad, pure literature with impure, Christian sermons with in- 
fidel lectures, the fire of the Holy Spirit with the fires of 

next to Demosthenes, the study of Dante was the best preparative for 
the eloquence of the pulpit or the bar. Robert Hall sought relief in 
Dante from the racking pains of spinal disease, and Sidney Smith 
took to the same poet for comfort and solace in his old age. It was 
characteristic of Goethe that his favorite book should have been Spi- 
noza's " Ethics," in which he said he had found a peace and conso- 
lation such as he had been able to find in no other work. It seems 
odd that Marshal Blucher's favorite book should have been Klop- 
gtock's "Messiah," and Napoleon Bonaparte's favorites Ossian's 
" Poems ' and the " Sorrows of Werther.' ' But Napoleon's range of 
reading was very extensive. It included Homer, Virgil, Tasso, nov- 
els of all countries, histories of all time, mathematics, legislation, 
and theology. He detested what he called the " bombast and tinsel " 
of Voltaire. The praises of Homer and Ossian he was never wearied 
of sounding. " Eead again," he said to an officer on board the Bel- 
lerophon — " read again the poet of Achilles ; devour Ossian. Those 
are the poets who lift up the soul and give to a man a colossal great 



58 SL'COESSFUL MEK OF TO-DAY. 

passion, so lie figlits good maxims with bad ones. We have 
to fight not only against his principalities and powers, but also 
against his proverbs of darkness. As it has been said of a 
true proverb, that " it is the wisdom of many, the wit of one.*' 
so a false proverb is the wickedness of many, the lie of one. 
A good proverb is concentrated wisdom ; a bad one con- 
centrated lie. And yet these proverbial lies are many of 
them so adulterated with truth that good men, as well as bad, 
are constantly quoting them as if they were established laws of 
final appeal. 

" All that a man hath will he give fur his life," said Satan, 
the father of lies, whose very name means slanderer ; but a 
IS'ew York judge, in his charge to the jury at a murder trial, 
said, " We have the highest authority for saying, ' All that a 
man hath will he give for his life.' " Evidently there are 
several of our judges, and not a few juries, who look to the 
same being as their ' highest authority.' It is so at least with 
those who warm over that old saying of Satan into the new 
saying, "Everyman has his piice." That proverb is doubt- 
less true of every man who quotes it as true. A man will not 
give all that he hath for his life. The lie is erased by the 
blood of a million martyrs to patriotism and religion, and 
even by the martyrs of commerce, the railway engineers and 
steamboat pilots who have sacrificed their own lives to save the 
passengers. If we sent only true men to conventions and con- 
gresses, to the bench and jury box, a railroad king would not 
be able to boast that he " bought his law by the year," nor 
could political kings buy with patronage the nomination for the 
governorship of a State as a delicious feast of revenge. Some 
bipeds have their price, but no men. If the old law maxim is 
true, " Things are worth what they will sell for," some of our 
legislators have little worth. There are locks that a golden key 
will not open. iVs if to rebuke the proverb " Good as gold," 
which makes gold the summum honum, the highest good, the 
Bible exclaims, " How much better is it to get wisdom than 
go/d !" With some tiu!r]jvn_t>eii)gs the penny's iOiightier tlian 



BUSINESS MAXIMS, BAD AND GOOD. 59 

the sword, sure enongli ; but money does not rule the world, 
only the worldly. Truth is mightier, and prevails in the hearts 
of all true 'nien. 

The devil's proverb, " AYhen you are in Rome do as the 
Romans do," would excuse any vice if one could only find a 
I laoe where it is fashionable — polygamy if he was in Utah, 
idolatry in China, murder in oppressed Armenia, licentious- 
ness in India. Doing as the Romans did ruined Rome, and 
doing as this proverb teaches works the same way. When 
you are with the Romans, do as the Romans ought to do. 
That was Paul's practice, if not his proverb. Doing as the 
Romans did would have ruined him and all who followed 
his example. Doing as the Romans ought to do saved 
Romans enough to make a church. 

That proverb of Satan's crowned satraps, " Might makes 
right," cannot stand even with the apologies of Carlyle and 
Ruskin to bolster it up. Let us write over it Lincoln's motto, 
''''Right makes might.'' ^ 

That saying, " A promise to heretics need not be kept," 
was custom-made in hell as a cloak for thieves. 

Of two evils choose — neither. When a negro preacher said, 
" Dere am two ways tro life — one de broad and narrow way 
dat leadeth to perdition, and de oder de narrow and broad way 
dat leads to sure destruction," a hearer responded, ''''Ben I 
takes to de woods. ^^ Between two wrong paths or parties, 
choose neither. God's law is, "Abstain from every form of 
evil." 

Honesty is the only pohcy. Nothing is so hard as to make 
a fortune dishonestly. " He that walketh uprightly walketh 
surely ; but he that perverteth his ways shall be knov/n." 

The materialist is false to the dictionary as well as the Bible 
when he says, " Seeing is believing." Seeing is knowing. 
Belief applies only to what we have received on the evidence 
of others. 

Even the proverb, " To the pure all things are pure," 
although quoted from the Bible, is usually applied in such a 



CO SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

way as to make it over into proverb of the devil, who can quote 
Scripture for his purpose. Is a brothel pure to a pure man ? 
To the pure impurity is doubly impure, as to God all sin is 
exceedingly sinful. Evil things make evil thinks. 

How great is the spell of that proverb, " Nothing but good 
of the dead !" Truer is that other saying, begotten of it, 
*' He lies like a tombstone ;" The Bible says on this subject : 
" The name of the wicked shall rot ;" " When the wicked 
perish there is shouting" (Prov. 10 : 7 ; 11 : 10). Let the 
proverb be, " Nothing but truth of the dead, and a good word 
now and then for the living." 

** In vino Veritas", (that is, true when drunk) cries the wine- 
bibber. Nay, though wine may reveal secrets, a husband is 
never so uyitrue as when alcohol rules him. 

Instead of crediting slander by the proverb, " Where there 
is so much smoke there must be some fire," let us say, When 
the smoke of slander comes from the lips, there must be some 
fire of envy or jealousy or malice or gossip-mania within. 

All is not well that ends well. If it were, the devil's work 
on Job and Judas would be well^ since G-od's overruling made 
it end well. If it were, the firing on Sumter would have been 
ivell, since it ended in emancipation. We are not licensed to 
do evil that good may come. Good never comes of evil, but 
sometimes in spite of it, when God makes the wrath of man to 
praise Him. Nothing but its own justice justifies a deed. In- 
stead of the false proverb, " The end justifies the means," let 
us adopt that motto of a prominent Boston professor, " I will 
lay down my life to save my country ; I will not do a base 
thing to save it." 

Spoils do not belong to the victors, but to those from whom. 
they fire robbed. So the police believe, and return all the spoils 
they Capture. 

"Never too late to mend," do you say? Ask the re- 
formers, two thirds of whose recruits from drunkenness relapse 
and die intemperate. " Never too old to learn"? Ask the 
miser, who tries in vain in his old age to put God and gen- 



BUSII^^BSS MAXIMS, BAD A:N-D GOOD. Cl 

erosity in place of gold in the throne of his heart. Habit is 
second nature, but not second to nature. It rules or ruins, or 
both. 

Never put oS until to-morrow what ought to be done to-day. 
There are many things that can be done to-day that ought to be 
put o^ forever. 

"A bird that can sing and won't sing must be made to sing." 
Indeed ! Try it. One person can put a bird in a cage, but 
twenty cannot make him sing. Talmage has improved the 
proverb : " If a man can sing and won't sing he ought to be 
sent to Sing Sing." The enforced labor of convicts there re- 
minds us how we may make the proverb really true and serious : 
the man who can work and won't work must be made to work. 

" Take the bull by the horns," says a foolish proverb. No 
man ever obeyed it twice. A better proverb would be, "A 
mule is tamest in front," to emphasize the importance of be- 
ginning everything at the right end. 

There is no easy road to learning, but all its roads are royal. 

The proper study of mankind is man and his Maker. 

The betrayed woman loves neither wisely nor well. 

I care much what a man thinks, for thoughts are the rudders 
of life. Tell me what a man thinks and I will tell you what 
his life will be in the long run. It may be worse than his 
thoughts, but it cannot be better. 

Enough is better than a feast. 

True charity never ends at home. " If ye love them that 
love you, what reward have ye ? Do not even the publicans 
so? 

A bad promise is worse kept than broken, but better not 
spoken. 

There are no ill winds that bring good to no one. " All 
things work together for good to them that love God." 

Take people as they are, but not without an effort to make 
them what they should be. 

It never rains, but God pours out blessings on the earth. li 
never rains, but God reigns and rains. Blessings do not come 



62 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

alone any oftener than misfortunes, and both are blessed as 
they come in the name of the Lord. A thing of goodness is a 
joy forever. The best attendant of valor is discretion. When 
God bids us speak, speech is golden and silence is sin. 

" An honest man," despite Pope, " is not the noblest work 
of God," but rather one who adds to honesty ChristUke devo- 
tion to the good of men and the glory of God. Some of the 
meanest men that breathe are strictly honest because it pays, 
or because the law compels. Some years ago a drunkard ap- 
plied to a Connecticut deacon, who kept a grocery, for a pint 
of whiskey. " Can't sell it to you," said the deacon. 
" Why ?" " Because the law won't let me sell less than a 
quart." The half-intoxicated customer replied promptly and 
truly, "Deacon, if you ain't any better than the law makes you, 
youHl go to hell sure.^^ An unselfish, Christlike man is the 
noblest work of God. 

" Ever}^ man for himself really means. Every man against 
himself, for even in the secular life of this world, " He that 
saveth his life shall lose it." "There is that withholdeth 
more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty. " He that cheats 
another cheats himself more in his loss of custom and reputa- 
tion. Of the crowd that cry, " Every man for himself," the 
devil takes the foremost as well as the hindmost — Dives as well 
as Judas. The proverb of success should be. Every man for 
the good of all. As several of my correspondents have said, 
no one can attain true and abiding success except by doing 
some real service to the public. There is no profounder watch- 
word for even secular success than those words of Christ, 
" Whosoever of you will be chief est shall be servant of all." 
It is the public servants who most faithfully and skilfully carry 
our freights and work our grain fields and solve our intellectual 
problems that win our gold and our respect. " He that Joseth 
his life shall find it." " There is that scattereth and yet iL 
creaseth. " The golden rule, quoted by more of ray corrfc- 
spoudents than any other motto, much as it is disregarded by 
many who handle gold, is nevertheless an essential rule of busi- 



BUSII^ESS MAXIMS, BAD A'N^D GOOD. 63 

ness success. It pays better than a short yardstick or false 
weights. 

One very successful young man, who provides the outfit for 
great museums, works by the golden rule in its new form, 
" Put yourself in his place." He sits in the new seats pro- 
vided for museum visitors to make sure they aro comfortable ; 
lie tries the effect of the various colors on the eye that he may 
have the right tint on the borders of his laL»els, and puts on 
them such information as he would want if ho was an unedu- 
cated visitor. It is certainly a golden riy'c for all kinds of 
business, "Put yourself in your customer's place." The 
interests of self, of humanity, and of God are all thas com- 
bined, as the earth has a threefold revolution at the same time- - 
first, on its axis ; second, around the sun ; and third, with the 
whole solar system around the central Pleiades. Every man for 
God, for humanity, for himself, and God bless the foremost. 

Away with the devil's false proverbs of selfishness and sin, 
which make void the law of God by their tradition, as the 
Jews' trick of Corhan was made the pretence of thankless sons 
for robbing their aged parents of the support which was their 
due. Such a son would call his property, as an excuse for 
withholding help from his parents, Corhan, that is, conse- 
crated to God, although he still kept it in his own possession, 
consecrated only to his selfishness. As Christ swept away 
such traditions, which were contrary to the Scriptures, so let us 
sweep out of our shops as rubbish the false proverbs that 
abound. 



VII. 

THE WATCHWORDS OF OUR LEADERS. 

What is really wanted is, to light up the spirit that is within a boy. 
In some sense and in some degree, in some effectual degree, there ii* 
in every boy the material of good work in the world ; in every boy, 
not only in those who are brilliant, not only in those who are quick, 
but in those who are solid, and even in those who are dull, or who 
seem to be dull. If they have only the good will, the dulness will 
day by day clear away, under the inliuence of the good- will. — Glad- 
stone. 

We must put true proverbs in the place of bad ones. Nature 
abhors a vacuum. The devil fills vacant lots with his garbage. 
Right watchwords are as great a power for good as bad ones 
are for evil. 

One of my correspondents declares as his opinion that maxims 
and watchwords, as such, are of little account, and are seldom 
thought of by boys ; the examples of upright, honorable busi- 
ness men and the precepts of the Bible being more potent. I 
answer that, while " example" is " more potent" than any 
words, yet noble maxims, which are usually outgrowths from 
the Bible, if not quotations, are also " potent,'''' as the biogra- 
phies of great men and the replies I have received abundantly 
prove. To many a man a motto has become the very star by 
which he has sailed all through the voyage of life, as a terse 
expression of its true purpose. 

I do not forget that there is often " smooth talk and bad 
walk;" that "Between said sindi done a long race may be 
run ;" but the walk would often be worse but for the talk. A 
motto helps a man as a target does the skill of a marksman. 
It gives his life a purpose and plan. * ' Have a mark ; aim at 




THE PROFESSIONS 



THE WATCHWORDS OF OUR LEADERS. b? 

it ; hit it ;" an arrow shot at a venture was never but onco 
known to hit anything. 

Each of our States and every foreign nation holds up a motto 
on its coat-of-arms as the aim of its people. Such ideals of 
life improve the real life. All titled families in foreign lands 
have such mottoes as incitements to true nobleness. In this 
country, where every family is royal, such mottoes would be 
helpful guide-boards to right courses of life. And why not 
have a motto for all schools as well as colleges ? The old cus- 
tom of putting mottoes on clocks and watches is also a good 
one. ''''Fugit hora ora'''' (The hour is flying, pray) said 
the dial of an old clock in Yorkshire, to all who looked at it 
for the time of day. "//^ hoc memento pendet cefernitas^^ (On 
this moment hangs eternity) said another clock. Every time 
Dr. Johnson turned to his watch he read on its face that timely 
warning against sluggishness and sin, " 'EpKerai vi;|" (The 
night Cometh). At the Jewish feast of Pentecost, when the 
young people are received into membership in the synagogue, 
they are each given a confirmation certificate, inscribed with an 
appropriate Scripture motto, which they are to cherish and 
follow through life — a good custom for all churches. 

Several of the prominent men whose mottoes I have received 
ascribe " great influence" to them. One of the most respect- 
ed of Brooklyn's citizens quotes, as powers in his life, two 
verses of Scripture : " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
His righteousness," and " A good name is rather to be chosen 
than great riches." As to the commercial value of a good 
name I might quote from another reply the words of a fathei 
to his son, " My boy, I had rather you would leave your em- 
ployer when of age without a dollar in your pocket, but with 
his recommendation, than leave before your time was out, with 
a thousand dollars in your pocket but loithout his recommenda- 
tion." 

One of Brooklyn's doctors says : " When I was quite a lad I 
heard a short Sunday-school speech in our little country church, 
where the speaker took for his text, ' Aim high ; if you don't 



68 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

Mt the mark you may come somewhere near it.' The speech 
from that text has, I think, had a strong influence upon my 
whole life." 

A New York publisher says : " When a boy of nine years 
of age my Sunday-school teacher gave me a book entitled, ' No 
Such Word as Fail.' I have felt the effect of it ever since." 

A Western ex-governor ascribes similar power to the prov- 
erbs of Solomon and Franklin, which his father frequently 
quoted to his children. 

A clergyman and author names the following mottoes as 
those that have had a shaping and controlling influence on his 
life : " I will make the world better for having lived in it." 
" By something attempted, something done, I'll earn each 
night's repose." 

*' Count that day lost whose low descending sun 
Views from thy hand no worthy action done. ' ' 

*' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." 
As a guide in ministerial studies, he has often quoted the 
proverb, " Know everything of something, and something of 
everything." A minister needs to know one thing — the Bible 
— thoroughly, and then something of everything, that he may 
illustrate it to everybody. But a motto which does him more 
constant service is the old English one, " Doe yenexte thynge." 
When many duties press for attention, that motto, like a 
policeman at a ticket office, makes them stand in line and wait 
their turn while he does the next thing. This same motto 
helps John Wanamaker to manage the largest clothing estab- 
lishment in the country and the largest Sunday-school at the 
same time — a spirited and well-mated span. 

" Though work may be hard to meet when it charges in a 
squad, it is easily vanquished if you can bring it into line." 
In such doing the motto of John Wesley is a good one, 
'* Always in haste, but never in a hurry. " That helped him to 
make his life very fruitful, not only in soul-saving but also ip 
money-getting and giving. 



THE WATCHWORDS OF OUR LEADERS. 69 

In one of the replies to my inquiries about mottoes, a pros- 
perous Brooklyn manufacturer tells how a single watchword 
made him wealthy, besides helping him in his character. 
When a young man he started for Australia in a sailing vessel, 
intending to go into business there ; but he became very weary 
of the slow and stormy voyage and half determined to leave the 
ship at a South American port and return home. He asked 
advice from an old man, who was one of his fellow-passengers. 
The counsel he got was, " If you undertake to do a thing, do 
it." He took the advice, and the motto also. In Australia he 
soon acquired twenty-five thousand dollars, which he brought 
back to this country and greatly increased by fidelity to the 
same ever-present watchword. The motto has also helped him 
as a Christian in holding on and holding out. " If you under- 
take to do a thing, do it.'* 

Mr. Edmund Driggs, of Brooklyn, gives in his reply a motto 
that came into his life like an influence, and greatly helped him 
toward success. At the age of fifteen he left home to engage 
with an older brother in the freighting business on the Hudson 
River. The first duty he performed on board the vessel was 
to go aloft to reef the pennant halliards through the truck of 
the topmast, which was forty feet above the top of the main- 
mast, without any rigging attached thereto. When the sailing- 
master had arranged the halliards over his shoulder, with a run- 
ning bowline under his right arm, he ordered him aloft. The 
new sailor looked at the sailing-master and then aloft and asked 
the question, "Did anybody ever do that?" "Yes, you 
fool," was the answer. " Do you suppose that I would order 
you to do a thing that was never done before ?" The young 
sailor replied, " If anybody ever did it, I can do it." He did 
it. That maxim has been his watchword through life. Though 
he is now over seventy years of age, he is still engaged in active 
business life, and whatever enterprise he undertakes the watch- 
word still is, " If anybody ever did it, I can do it." 

A well-known preacher shows how this principle works in 
the lowest SDhere : " I remember very well when a horse that 



70 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

could trot down to 2.40 was thought to be a wonderful ani. 
mal, and wise men of the turf wondered if they could ever get 
it lower than that ; and I easily remember when it went down 
to 35. As soon as one got down to 35, other men said, ' Well, 
I can trot in 35. What one horse has done, some other horse 
can do. ' Some one got it down to 30, and then there was a 
host of horses that could go down to 30. Then the example 
was set them, and they got it down to 25. Soon there was a 
whole raft of horses that could go down to 25, and when it 
came down to 20 there was a great drove that followed them 
down there. When they got down from 20 to 19, 18, 17, 
they said, ' We have got to the bottom now.' And yet they 
have got down to 13 and 12, and I do not know how much 
further they will go — only this : we know that the moment the 
example is set, and men say, ' It lies in bone and muscle and 
nerve to do that,' there will be some who will do it." So in 
the highest sphere, lives of true men all remind us that we can 
make our lives, if not sublime, at least greatly useful, by fidelity 
and perseverance. " What man has done, man can do !" 

Let me now give, with nothing more than passing comment, 
many others of the mottoes which I have just gathered. One 
who has been a governor and general and is now a college 
president, has the motto, " Fidelity to every trust." Another 
general of our late war, now a senator, is true to these two 
watchwords: "All men are equal if upright and honest." 
*' Stick to your friends in adversity as well as prosperity." 

Among the mottoes of Alexander H. Stephens were these : 
'' Time and tide wait for no man." '' Take time by the fore- 
lock." (A new version of this proverb is, " The time to take 
pancakes is when they are passing.") 

" Be just and fear not" is the motto of another. He says 
Af this motto : 

" I remember my first employer acted wrongly in some of his 
business transactions. This motto was on a show-card he was 
looking at. I pointed to it and said, 'That's true.' He 
looked with amazement, and ordered the printer to erase it. 



THE WATCHWORDS OF OUR LEADERS. 71 

In six months he was compelled to give all he possessed to con- 
done his offence. If he had carried the motto out he would 
this day have been opulent and happy." 

Neal Dow's motto is, "i?6's non verba ;^^ that is, Deeds not 
words. But he is good at both. He has also two other mot- 
toes : " Always be on the side of right, always against the 
wrong." " No man has a right to do anything that if the 
world should follow his example would produce more harm 
than good." A distinguished professor flies the motto, " Wis- 
dom is the principal thing." 

An editor of one of the leading Chicago papers has the 
motto, " Industrious perseverance and integrity insure suc- 
cess." Another editor's motto is, " Honest industry and hard 
work will win." Those who "dash off" articles for the 
papers would do well to ponder these editorial mottoes and 
save their articles from being " dashed off " into the waste- 
basket. Another editor takes two mottoes from Horace. One 
is, " JVocturna versate, versate diurna''' — that is. Turn your 
verses over by day, turn them over by night. The other is, 
" Nulla dies sine linea^^ — No day without a line. 

The motto of one of our Brooklyn doctors is, " Be cautious, 
but thorough, " which reminds us of the motto of the great 
Rothschild, "Be cautious, but bold." Several business men 
have the following mottoes : " Do your best every time, even 
in small matters." "Do everything well." "Whatever is 
worth doing at all is worth doing well." But a thoughtful 
professor puts beside such mottoes of well-doing one that he 
believes and defends, which presents the other half of the same 
truth, ''''Never do anything too well.'''' Arctic exploration is a 
case in point. It is too costly a form of suicide. The game 
is not worth the candle. Many books are only worth a ra^id 
reading.* We are not to put as much pains into making a box 

* Mr. Gladstone is said to have one faculty in a supernatural de- 
gree — tliat of mastering the contents of the book by glancing through 
its pages. A friend says of him that he can master any average book 



72 SUCCESSFUL MEiq- OF TO-DAY. 

as into the statue which it is to contain. Many men wast« 
their lives in doing trifles too well. It is not worth while to 
butter your cows' hay or throw pearls to swine with their corn. 
" What can be done with little need not be done with much." 
Then that kindred motto of business men, " If you want to 
have a thing well done, do it yourself," is to be limited by 
that other watchword, "It is better to set ten men to woik 
than to do ten men's work." Among the various calls upon 

in a quarter of an hour. He has a sort of instinct which leads him 
straight to its salient points, and after a quarter of an hour's study 
he will be able to tell more about it, and to argue more conclusively 
on its thesis, than the average reader who begins with the preface 
and reads through to the last page. Lord Macaulay was a very rapid 
reader, and he had a very retentive memory. Joseph Cook draws the 
honey out of a book as a bee does out of a flower. Sometimes he 
may miss the real meaning ; but there are few men who are his equal 
in either gathering from literature or preserving and using what they 
have gathered. I will not go so far as Eufus Choate, who said that 
he never read a book through, but there are comparatively few books 
that require to be read through by a proficient reader. There are 
pages and even chapters that he may skip. There are ideas elabo- 
rated that he can get from the bare statement of them, others illus- 
trated that he can understand without delaying for the illustration, 
others that he is familiar with and does not need to get at all. It is 
possible to acquire a power to look through a book, discern by a sort 
of instinct, developed only by practice, what is valuable in it and 
what not for one's own purpose, seize on that, and leave the rest 
alone. The first condition of rapid reading is careful reading. Eead 
only what is worth careful reading. Eecall, after you rise from your 
book or paper, what you have read. Attempt to give account of it, 
to yourself or to others. Open a journal, and habituate yourself to 
write down in it, from memory, an analysis of the last book, or the 
thoughts it suggested, or the remarkable facts which it contained. 
To attempt to read rapidly, before you have read slowly and labori- 
ously, results in reading without thinking, which is no reading at 
all. If you keep this habit up, if you read thoroughly— that is, with 
thought, and deny yourself all literature that is not worth thoughtful 
reading— when you have exercised yourself in this way for fifteen or 
twenty years you will gradually find that practice makes perfect.-^ 
Lyman Abbott, D.D. 



THE WATCHWORDS OF OUR LEADERS. 73 

our time we are not to do things of even secondary importance 
to the exclusion of more important ones. " The better is ^ 
great enemy of the best." " All that time is lost which might 
be better employed." Between good, better, and best, always 
choose the best. 

" Look at those two ragged and vicious vagrants that Murillo 
has gathered out of the street. You smile at first, because 
they are eating so naturally, and their roguery is so complete. 
But is there anything else than roguery there, or was it well 
for the painter to give his time to the painting of those repul- 
sive and wicked children ?" * 

Other mottoes are as follows: "One thing at a time." 
*' Business before pleasure." " Work, economize, persevere." 
*' A purpose once fixed, and then victory or death." " Never 
be idle." " While I live I'll crow." " Never give up one 
job until you get another." 

The man who flies that last motto was once a school-house 
sexton. When appointed a teacher he kept the old job until 
sure of success in the new ore, and so on utxtil he is now su- 
perintendent of schools in one of our largest cities. 

Yet other mottoes of business men are the following : 
*' Never make a promise that you cannot perform." " Incur 
no responsibility which you cannot meet without distress." 
" Never fail to keep a promise." " Meet every engagement 
to the minute." " When you say you will do a thing, do it" 
(a motto implying perseverance as well as fidelity). " Always 
pay a hundred cents on the dollar," "Make every article 
reliable." "Every tub must stand on its own bottom." 
" Paddle your own canoe." " Every man's life a plan of 
God." "Buy nothing unnecessary, however cheap." (The 
cheapest things are the costliest, especially when bought only 
because of their cheapness). " Spend less than you earn every 
year." "Save a portion of every dollar earned." "Be 
honest, whether the ducats come or go." " A man gets only 
what he earns." " Eternal vigilance is the price of success." 

.. ._ * Ruskin. 



74 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

"Faithful in least, faithful also in much." "Make your 
employer's interests yoar own." "Make yourself indispen- 
sable." " Be sure you are right, then go ahead." (A new 
version of that proverb is, " Be sure you have a loaf and not a 
stone before you bite.") 

" Pay as you go." (John Randolph called that the philoso- 
pher's stone). " Never spend a dollar until you have it." 
* ' Stretch yourself according to your coverlet. ' ' The sign- 
board of the road to wealth is 



Spend Less Than You Eakn. 



These mottoes are fairly modified by the rule of a Syracuse 
man : " Always have a debt on your house or some other mort- 
gaged property as an incentive to saving." Henry Ward 
Beecher says, " If a young man will only get in debt for some 
land and then get married, these two things will keep him 
straight or nothing will." 

Another gives " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it 
holy" as a business motto. It is a good one, for the success- 
ful men of our land are mostly those who have strictly and reg- 
ularly rested in body and mind, as Gladstone does, on the 
Lord's day. A prominent editor says, " The chief rule of my 
life for many years has been to do what God gives me to do, 
whether I like it or not. ' ' 

Yet other business mottoes are : "Be a whole man." 
" Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
" Commit thy way unto the Lord, and he shall direct thy 
paths." "Trust in the Lord, and do good." " Do justly, 
love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." 

The most powerful, perhaps, of all modern watchwords are 
the Wardsworth mottoes. A noble mechanic of that name. 



I'HE WATCHWOKDS OF OUR LEADERS. 75 

filled with a Christian enthusiasm for doing good to everybody 
by word and deed, adopted these mottoes : 

" Look up and not down. 

Look forward and not backward. 
Look out and not in, and lend a hand." 

At his funeral, ten persons whom he had helped to nobler 
lives by what he was and by what he had said and done, 
agreed that they would adopt his mottoes and seek to repeat 
his spirit and work. Edward Everett Hale told the story, with 
the spice of fiction added, in ' ' Ten Times One. ' ' Thousands 
of readers of that book have adopted the mottoes for them- 
selves, and made them also the flag of temperance societies and 
charitable clubs, until the Wardsworth mottoes are now the 
banner of more than ten times ten thousand. Multitudes have 
been led by these watchwords to " look up" to Grod, and ^' not 
down" to discouragements. Such looking up is Faith. They 
have been led to " look forward " with earnest purpose, and 
"not backward" in vain regrets. Such looking forward is 
Hope. They have been led, instead of looking 'Mn" at self, 
their own aches, their own interests, their own imperfections, 
to " look out" in earnest search for opportunities to do good, 
and " lend a hand " to comfort the sorrowing, help the needy, 
and lift up the sinful. That is Charity. Let us all, in heart at 
least, unite with these countless Look Up Legions under the 
banner of the Wardsworth mottoes. 



EOOSEVELT MOTTOES. 

Be ready. 

A square deal for every man. 

It is hard to fail, but worse never to have tried to succeed. 

Face the facts as you find them ; strive steadily for the best. 

Be never content with less than the possible best, and 
never throw aw^ay that possible best because it is not the 
ideal best. 

It is better to be faithful than famous. 

Have all the fun you honestly and decently can ; it is 
your right. 



VIII. 

WHAT CHURCHES MAY LEARN FROM COMMERCE. 

I know the impression is that we do not need to discuss the ques- 
tion of prohibition, and other moral questions, so much as the ques- 
tion of the salvation of men, or the question of the divine govern- 
ment ; but it seems to me that for a hundred years to come the 
churches could afford to devote themselves to the work of radicating 
in men the necessity of speaking the truth, the necessity of strict 
honesty, the necessity of fidelity to trusts. The art of learning how 
to live with your fellow-men is the art of learning how to live with 
God and angels ; but that art has been largely left out in the teaching 
of our churches for years and years. — Henry Waed Beecheb. 

Let us exchange the devil's watchword, " Business is busi- 
ness," the frequent excuse for selfish conduct, for a new 
and true watchword, Religion in business, and a business of 
religion. 

Religion certainly needs business as a prudent husband — 
that is, church work should be more business-like. Christ bade 
the Church learn from the methods of business men when he 
said, " The children of this world are wiser than the children 
of light. " Jesus called Christian work ''My Father's busi- 
ness." 

I suppose he had plenty of business to do when he was 
making the worlds up yonder, '' For by him were all things 
made that were made ;" yet in the midst of the sublime 
counsels of eternity, he looked down upon this world falling 
to ruin. His heart was full of love, and he made it his busi- 
ness to come into the cradle at Bethlehem, to walk along the 
lanes of Palestine, scattering his gifts of mercy broadcast ; to 



WHAT CHURCHES MAY LEARN" FROM COMMERCE. 77 

go to dark Gethsemane and wrestle there for humanity until 
the blood-drops stood on hjs brow ; to hang on the cross while 
the heavens grew dark at the awful wickedness, until he could 
speak of a " finished " business. 

The first published words of Jesus were, " I must be about 
my Father's business." His last words on the cross were, " It 
is finished." During the twenty-one years that intervened 
between those sentences, Jesus made religion the chief busi- 
ness of his life. But let it not be forgotten that during eigh- 
teen of those years he served God as a layman and a carpenter, 
and during only three as a preacher. 

As we hear Jesus at twelve saying tenderly to his mother, 
who was surprised to find him in the temple and busy with re- 
ligious matters, " Wist ye not that 1 must be about my Father's 
business?" it should remind the boys and girls and their 
parents that twelve years of age is not too early for one to be 
about the great business of serving God and saving souls. Many 
men go into secular business at twelve years of age, but how 
many parents, like Mary, would be surprised to find their chil- 
dren interested in the " Father's business" so early in life ? 

As we see Jesus, the young carpenter, sawing boards and 
doing good, " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serv 
ing the Lord," we are reminded that every other man also has 
two departments of buvsiness to carry on at the same time, two 
kinds of business that do not interfere with each other. While 
a man is diligent in business, serving customers or employers, 
he may at the same time be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord 
by showing forth honesty, generosity, and Christ-likeness. 

To do religious work on Sunday, as do many of the business 
men of our land, is a better rest than idleness, as it more com- 
pletely separates the mind from thoughts of business, and rests 
it by a thorough change of theme. As farmers rest soils by 
change of crops, so minds are rested by change of work.* 

* " One of our writers has called attention to the fact that bankers 
have made for themselves quite a place in literature. Here is our 



78 



SUCCESSFUL MElf OF TO-DAY. 



To every one God has intrusted two branches of business. 
The two siffns over them are : 



" Seest thou a man diligent in 
his business ? He shall stand 
before kiugs : he shall not stand 
before mean men." 



" Wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father's business V 



The latter is the great wholesale department of every man's 
life, and our earthly business, however large, is but a retail 
store beside it. That is the meaning of that command, ^^ Seek 
ye first the kingdom of Grod. ' ' Over this wholesale depart- 
ment, our religious work, the proprietor of the great orphanage 
in Bristol, England, puts this sign, in one of the chapter head- 
ings of his book : ^''The Lord's dealings with George Muller.'''' 
In the early days of San Francisco, Rev. William Taylor, the 



own Stedman, who as poet and critic comes next to Lowell, Richard 
H. Dana, Sr., was the poet-banker of Boston, as Rogers was the poet- 
banker of England. Grote was a banker-historian, and certainly ranks 
among the best historians of the modern world. And Sir John Lub- 
bock is the banker-naturalist. His remarkably interesting volume on 
' Ants, Bees, and Wasps ' is one of the most fascinating of scientific 
books, yet he is one of the successful bankers of London and an active 
member of Parliament. He was a member of the International Coin- 
age Committee appointed by government, and he is the author of a 
variety of papers in financial literature. He has made two landmarks 
in the history of banking which will always be associated with his 
name. One of these is the bank holiday ; the other is the institution 
of the clearing-house of country banks, by which the benefits long 
known in the city of London were extended to all parts of the country. 
He is president of the Institute of Bankers, with its two thousand mem- 
bers, and holds the position of honorary secretary of the London As- 
sociation of Bankers. Yet this banker and Member of Parliament 
has found time to make a study of the habits of bees and ants and 
wasps, extending over several years of time, and so careful and minute 
that its results are an invaluable contribution to natural history." 



WHAT CHUJRCHES MAY LBARIT FROM COMMERCE. 79 

famous missionary, who had gone there for Christian work, 
put up over the door of his chapel the sign : 



Business Tbansacted Hebe for Eternity. 



During Mr. Moody's meetings in London a certain business 
man was converted, and his brother was restored from back- 
sliding. They had another brother in the south of Ireland who 
was not a Christian, and they telegraphed him, " Come at 
once, very im'pQrtant business.''^ He came to London, and they 
took him into their private office, and with streaming eyes told 
him of their desire for his conversion. They brought him to 
the meeting that evening, and into the inquiry-room, and he be- 
came a Christian. That despatch was truthful, " Very impor- 
tant business.'" ''If you have done business with the great 
firm for yourself, become a commercial to bring others into 
relation with it. ' ' 

It is as if a man had a large wholesale warehouse where he 
made thousands of dollars a day, and also a temporary toy shop 
for a holiday season to gather in a few pennies and dimes. 
Would that man leave his wholesale warehouse wholly with 
his clerks and spend all his time at the little toy shop ? 

In the light of that question, look at the two branches of 
business which are intrusted to every man and woman. One 
has to do with the body, ' ' what it shall eat, and what it shall 
drink, and wherewithal it shall be clothed," until some acci- 
dent or disease shall lay it away in the grave. The other 
branch of our business has to do with the soul, that shall live 
as long as God himself — how it shall be clothed to appear before 
the Judge of all, and how its deep thirstings and longings shall 
be satisfied. One of these departments of business has to do 
with time, which may mean to us an hour, a day, a week. At 



80 SUCCESSFUL MEiq- OF TO-DAY. 

most it can be but a few years before to eacb of us " time 
shall be no longer," The other branch of our business has to 
do with eternity. One of these departments of business deals 
with life, which our experience as well as the Bible shows us is 
but "a step," "a vapor," "a passing cloud," " a fading 
flower," " a handbreadth," compared to the whole life of the 
immortal soul. The other branch of every man's business has 
to do with immortality, beside which a thousand ages in their 
flight are only as a single day ; beside which the added lives 
of us all— 20-|-304-40-[-60-j-10-}-70, etc.— would be only as 
one tick of the clock in the passage of a century. Enoch, who 
was taken to God in the first years of the world and is now six 
thousand years old, has only entered the infancy of his im- 
mortality. Put this proportion on your slates : 

Time : Eternity : : Life : Immortality : : our Earthly 
Business : the Father's Business. 

In earthly business we are " hired servants or partners with 
men ; in our heavenly business we are partners with God; 
" co-workers" and " co- witnesses" with him. It is the firm 
of ''''God and sons' ^ that is to save the world. How infinite 
the honor and gladness and responsibility of such a partner- 
ship ! How gre-at the guilt of neglecting our assigned part in 
the work ! God's part is to convict and convert the soul, as 
he did Saul at the gate of Damascus ; our part is to lead such 
converts into the light by our words and prayers, as did the 
good Ananias. Such winning of souls as partners with God 
is a more important department of our work than winning 
gold or fame. 

A profane sea-captain came to a mission station on the 
Pacific, and the missionary talked with him upon religious sub- 
jects. The captain said, " I came away from Nantucket after 
whales ; I have sailed round Cape Horn for whales ; I am now 
up in tne Northern Pacific Ocean after whales. I think of 
nothing but whales. I fear your labor would be entirely lost 
upon me, and I ought to be very frank with you. I care for 
nothing by day but whales, and I dream of them at night. If 



WHAT CHURCHES MAY LEARN FROM COMMERCE. 81 

you should open my heart I think you would find the shape of 
a sperm-v)hale there, ' ' 

Which IS dearest to you, your earthly business or your 
heavenly mansion ? 

The great evangelist, Finney, was a lawyer prior to his con- 
version. He was converted and called to the ministry on the 
same day. One of the deacons of the place came to his office 
about a suit he desired carried to the courts. Finney's startling 
reply was, " Deacon, I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus 
Christ to plead his cause, and so I cannot plead yours." In 
every earthly business God's claims upon us should take the 
precedence. 

True religion means business. It is not a mere sentiment or 
creed, but working the works of Him that sent us while it is 
day. We are not only to conduct our earthly business on 
Christian principles, but also to practise religion on business 
principles. The church, like Brooklyn under the best of 
mayors, ought to be managed as a great business corporation, 
in which men are junior partners with God. 

Christians need to be more business-like, for one thing, in 
money matters. It would seem as if many a church member 
must have held his pocketbook above water when he was im- 
mersed, as the half-converted savage did his right hand because 
he wished to keep it unbaptized to execute revenge. The only 
genuine article is a purse-and-all consecration. " I suppose I 
might as well destroy this," said a tailor disconsolately, taking 
up an old bill long due him from one of the deacons of the 
church to which he belonged. "Not a bit of it," said his 
wife ; " give it to me." The next Sunday morning, when the 
plate was passed for subscriptions to pay off the floating debt, 
she dropped in the bill, and before the middle of the week it 
was paid. God does not forgive our debts of that sort. A true 
Christian will pay as well as pray. A man can't be a saint in 
his heart and a cheat in his pocket at the same time, until ex- 
press trains going swiftly in opposite directions can safely pass 
on the same track. Fie on the religion of the men who pay 



82 SUCCESSFUL MEi?- OF TO-DAY. 

political subscriptions and neglect religious ones ; who pay 
promptly for the pleasure carriage and not at all for their pews • 
who put God's bills at the bottom, to be paid last or not at all. 

In going through the woman's department of our peniten- 
tiary I saw rosaries in most of the cells. So the gallows is 
usually adorned with a crucifix. Why does one church furnish 
most of the criminals ? Because its religion does not mean 
business ; because sacraments- are put in the place of honesty. 
Romish pilgrims to sacred shrines in Palestine show their thrift 
by acting as traders at the same time. They combine business 
with religion. Would that they might be persuaded to com- 
bine religion with business and not prey with an e and an a on 
the same journey. 

But Protestants do not allow Romanists to monopolize this 
habit of giving God the lips and keeping the pocket for them- 
selves or for the devil. 

Christians also need to be more business-like in matters of 
church business. Why is it that in many communities the 
churches are the only establishments that do not send collectors 
after unpaid bills ? Did you ever hear of a church with an 
** outside credit man" who lost only one twentieth of one per 
cent a year on its bills, as was the case a year or two since in 
the second largest dry goods establishment in our land ? Why 
is it that church yards are kept so much less tidy than private 
ones ? Why is it harder to get a quorum of church officers 
than of bank directors ? Certainly no Christian would admit 
that God's pay is less valuable than man's. 

The Church needs to be more business-like, not only in han- 
dling money, but also in winning men to God. A preacher has 
" great bargains to ofEer" — " mansions" and " robes" and 
*' jewels." Why should he not be as earnest in seeking cus- 
tomers as if his pulpit were a counter or an auction-block ? 
" Men ride swift steeds when they hunt for game, and snails 
when they are on the road to heaven. " " They are wise to do 
evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." One of the 
most unbusiness-like things that is found in churches is the pre- 



WHAT CHURCHES MAY LEARN" FROM COMMERCE. 83 

judice against revivals, by which four sevenths of the ministers 
and superintendents of America, as I have ascertained by printed 
inquiries, were brought into a Christian life. Joseph Cook found 
a similar proportion of his Christian audience were revival con- 
verts. Strange that the oak should have a prejudice against the 
sun and rain, to which it is chiefly indebted for its growth ! 

Men open summer beer-gardens to make the front door of 
hell attractive. Why should not Christians open a " gospel 
garden," such as Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., carried on 
in New York a few years ago ? It consisted of an apartment 
fitted up with a fountain, floral baskets, urns of plants, and 
whatever would give it an inviting appearance. To the ceiling 
were attached long linen fans, which were kept all the time in 
motion to supply a cool and refreshing atmosphere. We are 
urged to something of this sort by the fact, stated in the 
Brooklyn Police Report for 1881, that more arrests are made 
in the summer than in any time in the year — that is, the devil 
has his revival while the churches take their vacations. Open- 
air preaching, such as is common in English parks and streets, 
and tent meetings and gospel gardens, are needed to lessen 
summer arrests and increase summer conversions. 

" How can I get children and young people to come to 
Sunday-school ?" was a question asked at a Sunday-school con- 
vention. At once the answer came, " Count every Sunday an 
important election day, the Sunday-school room the voting 
place, and every boy and girl a voter." If one tenth as much 
effort was put forth by Sunday-school teachers and officers, and 
professed Christians generally, to win outside children and 
youth to the Sunday-school as is made by politicians to win 
voters to the polls, there would be such an ingathering of new 
scholars as has never been dreamed of. 

A business man wants to know why gospel cars should not 
be attached to a passenger train as well as smoking cars. A 
conductor on the Old Colony Railroad answers that the sugges- 
tion is a perfectly practical one. He says : " There are hun- 
dreds of Christian men who delight in the worship of God who 



84 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAT. 

spend from six to twelve hours per week on the railroad be- 
tween home and business. Now, why not utilize this time by 
religious exercises ? What a fitting beginning and end for the 
busmess of the day ! Instead of card-tables, have an organ or 
piano ; let the seats be arranged facing the centre of the car. 
Instead of spittoons, have a carpet ; instead of cards, have Bibles 
and gospel sung- books. I venture, after twenty years of rail- 
road experience, that the thing is practicable !" Something a lit- 
tle like this was done by the Plainfield Railroad Normal Class, a 
company of half a dozen Christians, all laymen save one, who 
in the two hoars a day spent in going to their New York busi- 
ness and returning, prepared for a year the best outlines on the 
Sunday-school lessons that were published anywhere. Their 
minds were more rested by change of thought than if the time 
had been spent in smoking or reading the crime columns of the 
daily papers. 

An oft- quoted secret of success is, " Keeping up with the 
age by timely novelties." The children of this world often 
change the arrangements of their show-cases and windows. 
They have learned the large truth which was expressed in the 
small joke of the circus clown : " The next thing is — some- 
thing ehe,''^ A prominent layman once said to me, earnestly 
quoting the clown's remark, " The churches need to have that 
watchword thrown in among their stereotyped and unchanging 
methods of work." With business-like enterprise, a church 
should occasionally change its ways of working for newer and 
better ones, or even for methods no better than it had before, 
except as they are fresher. 

It is useless to seek for novelty in the old and fixed doctrines. 
Gravitation in science and the divinity of Christ in theology ; 
the roundness of the earth as a doctrine of God's world, and 
the Bible's inspiiation as a doctrine of God's word — on these 
proved facts we rest, as established beyond any reasonable 
doubt. We have no ambition to follow Murray and Miln and 
other " wanderinor stars," who, breaking away from these old 



WHAT OHTJEOHBS MAY LEARN FROM COMMERCE. 85 

doctrines and seeking novelties, have gone deeper and deeper 
into the darkness of doubt. 

Bat while the doctrines of religion are as old and changeless 
as gravitation, its methods of work should be as new and timely 
as if the Church were the most enterprising of business houses. 
The next thing in church worii is — something else. 



IX, 

BUSINESS MAXIMS APPLIED TO CHURCH WORK. 

Be the same in thine own act and valor 
As thou art in desire. — Shakespeaee. 

One of the most frequent replies of our prominent men to 
my question, " What do you consider essential elements of 
success ?" is this : '"'' Close attention to business.''^ A man who 
has" other fish to fry" in business hours, especially if they are 
fish which he has caught when he should have been minding 
his business, will find his judgment day in this world, when, in 
the mercantile agency the books are opened that record against 
his credit that he " keeps a dog and a gun," but does not keep 
his shop or his engagements faithfully. " He that loveth 
pleasure shall not be rich." " Keep thy shop and it will keep 
thee." In our great business of saving men, churches can 
have no great success unless pastor and officers, and at least a 
goodly percentage of the members, " attend closely to their 
business." 

Those who have inadequate views of their responsibility in 
preparing to preach the gospel ought to be impressively re- 
minded of their failure in this respect, as was a moderate min- 
ister, who was a keen fisher, when he said to Dr. Andrew 
Thompson : " I wonder you spend so much time on your ser- 
mons, with your ability and ready speech. Many's the time 
I've written a sermon and killed a salmon before breakfast. " To 
which saying Dr. Thompson replied, " Well, sir, I'd rather 
have eaten your salmon than listened to your sermon." 

If a pastor should frequently neglect to be in his place on 
Sunday when in health, he would soon have his resignation sent 



BUSINESS MAXIMS APPLIED TO CHURCH WORK. 87 

him. That would be business-like. Why should a church not 
be as business-like with deacons or teachers who frequently 
absent themselves from their posts ? I could tell you of a 
church in Arizona or elsewhere m which for a year only three 
of the seven deacons even frequented the prayer-meetings or 
the deacons' meetings, and in which one of the deacons held 
office for a year without attending a single prayer-meeting or 
deacons' meeting or distributing the elements of a single com- 
munion season, or even once passing a contribution-box. In- 
deed he rejected the church's creed, whose acceptance was the 
condition of eligibility. In that same church and that same 
year the clerk attended but one meeting of the examining com- 
mittee, of which he was scribe. And the treasurer of the benevo- 
lent funds was almost regularly absent when such collections 
were taken. Where are there any " children of this world " 
who do business in that fashion ? What bank would keep an 
officer who was rarely in his place at business hours ? Are 
God's business hours — namely, those of the weekly prayer- 
meeting and of Sunday services — less important ? 

That a cashier and teller were not feeling pleasantly toward 
the president of a bank would not make it necessary for them 
to resign, but neither would it excuse them for holding an 
office without performing its duties. If, like Stanton in 
Andrew Johnson's cabinet, an officer feels it his duty to 
" stick" to an office when unfriendly to his president, he 
should " stick" to his Work also. An old Scotch lady, who 
disliked her minister but continued her duties to the church, put 
it tersely, when the pastor asked her how it was that she still 
came to the church : "J/y quarrel is with you, man; it no 
with the gospel.''^ Every Christian, in office or out, should 
stick to the gospel somewhere, whoever he may like or dislike. 
Can you tell me of any corporations except the churches that 
keep on the rolls a lot of dishonorary members who are not at 
work ? How sad the significance of recent church statistics ! 
In 1882 there was but one convert to each twenty- nine mem- 
bers in the Congregational churches of the United States. The 



88 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

ministers nlono oiiixlit to have done better than that, for it aver- 
ages but four to each minister, hardly enough to bahmco the 
funerals. Other denominations present similar figures — some a 
little better, but all bad enough. 

It would be business-like not only to send resignations to 
neglectful church otHcers but also to privates who are perpet- 
milly on a furlough from their duties, doing nothing bevond 
running an excuse factory. With tlie watchword, " A busi- 
ness of religion," each church should thoroughly revise its rolls 
at least once a year, as Sunday-scliools do once a <juarter, and 
business iirins oftener still, and make the list include only 
" practising Christians," le^t it should be publicly credited, as 
so many unpruned churches have been, with keeping in its fel- 
lowship '" practisimj k'uaves.'" 

The chief of a kraal in Natal, South Africa, gives his con- 
sent to his people to becoming (^liristians tluis : " If you be- 
come better men and women by becoming Christians, you may 
remain so ; if not, I won't let you be Christians at all." That 
is a good rule for Americans as well as for Africans. 

If our religion '^ ))tea))S businesii'^ it will take just as much 
rain, just as much heat, just as niuch cold, just as much weari- 
ness, to keep us from the church and Christian duty as from 
our daily occupations. What would you think of a man who 
only went to his business in fair weather ? What s\iccess would 
you expect for a young man who never went to his work when 
the thermometer was above or below " temperate" ? How long 
would you employ a man who did not come to his work when 
he found himself a little weary or indisposed or not fceHn<j like 
it? How many of your excuses for absence from meetings on 
Sunday or on week days, or for other neglects of duty, would 
stand the analysis of the question, " Would this same excuse be 
sufhcient to keep rac frotn my earthly business or from an 
ex})ectcd pleasure ?" That question is a good standard for 
measuring a Christian's excuses. If an excuse will stand that 
test, it is doubtless a good one. 

" A business of relimon" — that was the idea in the mind of 



BUSINESS MAXIMS APPLIED TO CHURCH WORK. 80 



a certain boy to whom a proachcr said, " Is your fathor a 
Christian ?" The lad lepJied, " Yes, sir ; but he ain't workinr/ 
at it murk lately.'''' 

A minister, recently settled in a Connecticut town, called 
one Saturday upon a photographer to have his picture taken. 
The artist did not recognize him. He was very busy with the 
holiday rusli, and could not appoint any time for a sitting. 
After a moment's pause, however, he turned abruptly to the 
minister with the question, ''''Are you much of a. ClhriHtlaa f 
A little surpri.sed at such an unexpected question, the minister 
said that he was trying to be a Christian. The artist then re- 
marked that he would be in his rooms the next morning (Sun- 
day) between the hours of nine and twelve, and would be 
happy to sec him if he would drop in then. " Between those 
hours I shall be in the pulpit, preaching the gospel," replied 
the minister, " and will return the compliment and ask you to 
drop in and see me there instead." " Oh ! good-moining," 
said the artist, with a sheepish look upon liis face, as he per- 
ceived his mistake and disappeared in his dark room. 

That Chicago expressman who advertised at the moving 
time, " Furniture loaded so as to shou) to the best advantage," 
manifested a deep knowledge of one of the most dangerous 
traits of human nature — the desire to seem other tht.n we are. 
Our Christianity must be as deep as truth, or it is not secure 
against the e{>idemic of fraud. 

As a cure for this sliam religion we must cultivate truth. I 
do not mean merely its surface, veracity, but its depth, reality. 
We need to introduce the Eastlake style into character-building 
as well as houses ; that is, instead of seeking outwardness and 
show by veneering and varnishing, let us he what we seem. 
This is TRUTFi, for which the man was seeking who prayed. 
" Lord, make mc reul.^^ 

I had a dream — whether day-dream or niglit-drcam matter* 
not — that was strangely significant. I was approaching a larg« 
city by railroad. I looked from the car-windows and saw 
upon barns and fences the signs : "Go to 1150 Main Street 



so - SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

for all kinds of books at lowest prices." Near it in several 
cases was the picture of a man with a carpet-bag in his hand, 
walking rapidly, and below the picture were the words, " I'm 
going to 1151 Main Street for ready-made goods. " Another 
inscription told of a large assortment of jewelry at 1155 Main 
Street. I reached the city, and hurried to " 1150 Main Street. ' ' 
A large sign over the door and handbills in the window an- 
nounced " Books of all sorts at very low prices." I went in. 
The bookseller was there, hut not a hook teas to he seen in the 
store. He said that he was hoping that he might have some. 
I suppressed my indignation and went into " 1151 Main Street" 
for ready-made goods. Again I found a storekeeper, but not 
goods, although the store was covered with placards announc- 
ing " great bargains." In 1155 I found the same falsehood. 
Like the others, he expected stock some time. I walked along 
the street and found many such stores. On the whole street 
there were about 400 stores, and although every one had its 
glaring sign, only about two hundred had any goods to show. 
The king of the country came into the street and entered many 
of the stores to make purchases, but found so many places 
where they did not have goods corresponding to their signs and 
handbills that he ordered his attendants to pass through the 
street and tear down all the false signs and drive out all the 
false traders. Then there came the crash of falling signs, and I 
awoke to find that / had heen dreaming over a church record. 
There were long rows of names with the sign " Christian" 
over them, but, alas, how many had nothing but a sign : no 
fruits of the spirit behind the sign, no " love, joy, peace, meek- 
ness, gentleness, patience" ! None of that activity in Christ- 
like work, none of that tenderness of Christlike sympathy, 
none of that unselfish devotion to the salvation of others, that 
is implied in the name Christian ! Our religion must be some- 
thing more than a label. Who trusts in labels ? Who thinkg 
that the label " Butter" always means butter, or that " Hon- 
orable" is applied only to men of honor ? When the King of 



BUSINESS MAXIMS APPLIED TO CHURCH WORK. 91 

kings comes to make up his jewels, what a crash there will be 
amid these false signs and labels, as many whose profession 
has said, " Lord, Lord," shall be driven out with the wordj 
'' I know you not — Depart I" Tear down your sign if you 
have gone out of the business, and do not delude passers-by 
with the expectation of finding goods that you have long since 
sold out. 

But there is another edge to this thought. It cuts on both 
sides. Only the man who has goods to sell of which he is 
ashamed puts out no sign to let the people know what he has. 
Now there are men who are engaged in the Lord's business in a 
small way — men who are trying to do " about right, ' ' who pri- 
vately claim to be " friends of Christ" — that are following just 
the policy of these secret kinds of business. They put out no 
sign to let the world know where they stand. They seem at least 
to be a little ashamed of their business with Christ ; men cannot 
tell surely whether they are doing business for God or the devil. 
No one cries out more than they against those of the church 
members over the way whose goods do not fully correspond to 
the signs, and yet they fail to see the same inconsistency and 
hypocrisy in not having the sign correspond with the goods. 
Hypocrisy is a discord between the inward and outward life in 
either direction. It is just as surely hypocrisy if the outward 
profession does not correspond to the heart's convictions as it 
is if the inward life does not correspond to the outward pro- 
fession. 

Christian man by profession, let your goods be equal to your 
sign. Moral man, claiming to be a friend of Christ, let your 
sign correspond to your goods. God bids every friend of 
Christ put the mark of the blood on his door-post. He cries 
to every man, " Where art thou ?" We should let our con- 
victions be known. " If the Lord be God, serve him, or if Baal, 
serve him." 

The business man's most frequent test of a new enterprise is, 
" Will it pai/P^ Ask that man who has tried all the enjoy- 



92 SUCCESSFUL ME2S" OF TO-DAi. 

merits of wealth and pleasure and found them empty and 
unsatisfactory, and who for forty years has tried religion of 
Christ, " Does it pay V and hear his answer, " It satisfies 
my longings as nothing else can do." Ask that man who is 
looking death in the face and is about to leave all his property 
and friends, whom he has already ceased to know, and hear 
him say, ^^ Precious, precious, precious Jesus.'' ^ Religion pays 
" ahundredfold in this life, and in the world to come life ever- 
lasting." In history we see many a man who was diligent in 
his earthly business standing before kings ; in heaven we shall 
see all those who were diligent in our Father's business stand- 
ing before the King of kings. Yes, it pays, it pays to serve 
God. 

Another business principle which we would apply to this 
great business of eternity is this : " Be sure you're right, and 
then go ahead." That is, be clearly convinced that a certain 
course is for your interest, and then take it at once. I have 
often asked business men who were not Christians but admitted 
that they ought to be, this question : " If you should see the 
means of securing a thousand dollars as clearly as you see your 
duty and opportunity to be a Christian, would you not use the 
means at once ?" and they would answer, " Yes." They would 
admit that one thousand dollars was not worthy to be mentioned 
beside religion, and yet day after day they would see that clear 
path to the cross and not walk in it. 

Garfield, in young manhood, said to a revival preacher, 
*' Sir, I have been listening to your preaching night after 
night, and I am fully persuaded that if these things you say 
are true, it is the duty and highest interest of every man, espe- 
cially every young man, to accept of religion and seek to be 
a man. But really, I don't know whether this thing is true or 
not. I can't say that I disbelieve it, but I dare not say that I 
fully and honestly believe. If I were sure that it were true, I 
would most gladly give it my heart and life." The minister 
at length showed him t hat w hatever might be the solution of 



BUSIl^ESS MAXIMS APPLIED TO CHURCH WORK. 93 

ten thousand mysteries, there was one assured and eternal alli- 
ance for every soul in Christ, and that the man who loved and 
followed him would surely be safe. 

Garfield, thus assured that he was right, went forward into a 
Christian life. 

Be sure you are right, and then go ahead. 



X. 

IS IT NECESSARY TO BE HONEST IN ORDER TO 
BE POOR ? 

Oh, if religion toe?'e a diffusive, practical, every-day reality, there 
would be a marvellous change in the aspects of life and the condi- 
tions of humanity around us. The great city, now so gross and pro- 
fane, would become as a vast cathedral, through whose stony aisles 
would flow perpetual service ; where labor would discharge its daily 
oflfices, and faith and patience keep their heavenward look, and love 
present its offerings. Yea, the very roll of wheels through its streets 
would be a litany, and the sound of homeward feet the chant of its 
evening psalm. — Chapin, 

If any one thing was, more than any other, the means of promot- 
ing his success in life, we should say it was the faculty of command- 
ing the confidence of others. — William R. Laweence, in Diary and 
Correspondence of Ainos Lawrence. 

His religious life was never weakened by his prosperity, and as he 
became more wealthy he associated himself with more religious 
societies. — New York Tribune on Hon. William E. Dodge. 

If religion needs business as a strong and wise husband, 
surely business needs religion as a restraining and guiding wife. 
As God is everywhere, religion belongs there. God is in your 
*' busy day" as well as your " still hour." " Religion is the 
right use of a man's whole self." 

Many of the evils of to-day are due to the unwarranted par- 
tition which has been raised between what is called " secular" 
and what is labelled " religious," as if they were independent 
provinces under different rulers. God bombards that wall with 
the command, "Do all to the glory of God." Thus he 
teaches us who have profanely called modern history " pro- 



HONEST IK ORDER TO BE POOR ? 95 

fane" that it is all sacred — the newest testament of the provi- 
dence of God. A pulpit is no more " a sacred desk" than a 
bookkeeper's- Both are to be used for the good of humanity 
and in accordance with God's laws. Religion has to do with 
insurance as well as assurance. " He that provideth not for 
his own has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. " A 
minister is hardly under more obligation to keep a clean heart, a 
clean mouth, and a clean hand, than a layman. " Every man 
shall give account of himself to God." Every day is " the 
Lord's day," and every week should be a " holy week." 
"There goes the Sunday man," said a child, pointing to a 
preacher. God wants Monday men as well. 

Solomon said that God could not be shut up in a temple. 
He is everywhere, even in Wall Street. " The eyes of the 
Lord are in every place." The merchant's money should be 
used as conscientiously as the minister's mind. It was to a 
general that God said that the Bible " should not depart out 
of his mouth, but he should meditate therein day and night, 
that he might observe to do according to all that is written 
therein, and thus make his way prosperous and have good suc- 
cess."* The Bible was thus divinely presented as a help to 
success. 

It is written in the name of Deity, " I have created the 
smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. " f Of the warriors in 
the cause of right it is said that ' ' The Spirit of the Lord was 
upon Samson," and " upon Gideon." The public officer has 
the same help — " The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, 
and he judged Israel." 

In the prophecy of Isaiah, at the close of a description of the 
operations of farming, it is written (giving the literal render- 
ing) : " This also goeth forth from Jehovah of hosts ; He 
gives wonderful intelligence, high understanding." It is also 
said, in the same connection, in regard to the farmer's skilly 
" His God doth teach him." 

* Kead also Prov. 6 : 22, 23. f Kead also Ex. 31 : 2-5. 



96 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

The Bible here asserts that God is with us continually, as 
well as individually, even in the every-day business of life to 
give "intelligence" and "understanding," and "teach us 
how to act rightly." 

The farmer may well realize that God is his senior partner, 
for he can only plant and reap, while God must water and give 
the increase, and the harvest is literally the joint product of 
God and man. But, in other departments of business, when 
you deal with God in human nature, the Divine nearness is 
even closer than with those who deal with God in nature, for in 
a mystic and wonderful way the Father has not only put him- 
self in us, as light fills the mists of the rainbow, but he has also 
oflScially declared himself identical with all those who believe 
in him. 

How sacred and noble, then, is all honest work of hand, or 
head, or heart, as the outcome of this divine illumination ! 
Handling money or tools faithfully is as glorious as handling 
the sword of the patriot or the scroll of the prophet. 

In some of the old towns of Europe a cross used to stand in 
the market, to teach the buyers and sellers to rule their actions 
and sanctify their gains by the remembrance of the cross. So 
God commanded the ancient Jews to wear on the borders of 
their garments a blue ribbon as their chromatic ticket for 
heaven, and a little box containing the law of love to God and 
man " as a sign" upon the right arm — these memoranda of 
their duty and destination being intended to restrain them from 
living merely for earthly and selfish ends. Even the Chinese 
recognize a relation between business and religion by setting up 
idols in their shops.* I fear the idol in many of our shops is that 

* An amusing anecdote is told by an American authoress in a work 
on Hindoostan, which, though it refers to the pagan Hindoos, might 
find its counterpart elsewhere. " At Ulwar the British agent wished 
to plant an avenue of trees on either side of the road in front of the 
shops, for the purpose of giving welcome shade. He accordingly 
made choice of peepul-trees, as they are considered sacred by the 
Hindoos. But so soon as the Bunnyahs, or native shopkeepers, 



HONEST IN ORDER TO BE P0C2 ? 97 

one whose slirine is the safe — that one wliich a young Ameri. 
can proudly said was the only God he worshipped, " the 
aimiiorlity dollar." Tho sacrifices that this deity requires of his 
woishippeis are embezzled trust funds and the spoils of specula- 
tive steal! no-. Such frauds as those of the star routes are his 
anthems of praise. As Dagon was dashed to the ground when 
the ark of God was brought into his temple, so to-day the only 
power that can conquer this money-god, who brings on the 
land, with every decade, a flood of distrust, panic, and hard 
times from the clouds of fraud which he creates — the only 
power than can checkmate this " covetousness which is idola- 
tr} " is t[,c mind of Christ in the hearts of men. 

Wh.t we need is not more paper-money or more gold, but 
more of God. There is only one place where God is not — in 
the thoughts of the wicked, and they are the only ones who 
would post up the sign, " No admittance of religion to busi- 
ness." 

A certain wheat speculator is quoted as saying, " There is 
no morality in the Board of Trade. There is no necessity for 
any." How much more appropriate the motto over the door 
of ihe Exchange in London^ " The earth is the Lord's, and the 
fulness thereof." That motto holds up the right ideal, even 
if i[ seldom gets inside the door or the hearts of the place. 
Let the forgotten and neglected Bible truths be written on all 
our hearts, that religion is not a thing of the seventh day of 
each week, but of the seven days ; not of a few hallowed places, 
but of all places , not of certain postures and words, but of all 
situations and conversations. We can no more get away from 
the sphere of religion than from God. 

Oxygen unites with all the other sixty-five elements that 
make up the universe, except one ; so true religion unites and 

heard of his selection, they one and ail declared that if this were done 
they would not occupy the shops ; and when asked for a reason, re- 
plied, it was because they could not tell untruths or swear falsely 
under their shade ; adding, 'And how can we carry on business other- 
wise ?' ' ' 



98 srccESSFUL ^ien op to-day. 

mingles ^tt every occupation of life except sin. The ignoring 
of tiis truth is at the root of the cormption and inefficiency 
found with all false and formal religions. 

The swine merchants of G^dara — Jews whose laws forbade 
them to touch pork, and whose busiuess therefore was illegal — 
when Christ allowed the legion of demons whom he had cast 
out of the demoniacs to destroy two thousand head of this 
illegal stock, ' ' besought him to depart out of their coasts. ' * 
They cared more for pork than for the power of Christ as a 
healer and saviour ia their community. Erase the s in " swine 
merchants" ' and you have their successors to-day, who cry out 
against having humane principles applied to their business. 
The demons who once inhabited hogs Kve in bottles to-day; 
and the Christ-spirit in the prohibition movement will soon 
drive them, bottles and aE, down a steep place iuto the sea, 

Christ drove oxen and sheep and doves from the house of 
God, but those whose business practices are ' ' crooked ' ' reverse 
that action and drive all thoughts of G-od from their places of 
merchandise. If they were revising hvmns thev would sing, 

" Far from my thonglits, O God, be gone. 
Let all mv business hoTixs alone." 

They do not even allow worship to have the time they spend in 
church, but whUe apparently listening to the Bible they are 
really planning bargains, like the tanner who dreamed that he 
found himself in church with a pile of leather on his back as 
he marched up the aisle. To the God's-eye view many a busi- 
ness man carries a load of leather or cloth or crockery or clocks 
on his back as he goes to his pew. 

In some respects it might be a good thing if a man thought 
over his business plans in the church, and by the light of 
religion, but it is not well for any man to sunt out thoughts of 
religion from his week-day work. 

In every legitimate business true religion is a positire helper. 
It is frequently mentioned as one of the secrets of success in 
the replies which I have received from prominent men. 



HONEST IN- ORDER TO BE POOR ? 99 

Of course I know that there are a few exceptional men who 
are at once paupers in character and millionaires in wealth. One 
of the best known lawyers in the land, who has risen to be 
judge, author, editor, says, in his reply to my circular, " Of 
those who have made great fortunes, very few would admit that 
lying and cheating were the ' chief elements ' of their success. 
Yet every lawyer knows it to be true." Alas, I might add 
that many lawyers help to make it so, but these fortunes of 
muddy money are exceptional and short-lived. It is not neces- 
sary for a man to be poor to be honest, nor to be poor if he is 
honest. Wendell Phillips says, " A Christian can not be a 
millionaire nor a Greek scholar," meaning that a man who has 
Christ's enthusiasm for saving men cannot devote enough time 
to either money-getting or knowledge-getting to master a mill- 
ion or a foreign tongue. If that statement is not wholly true 
it contains a great truth, namely, that a true Christian will not 
make his chief aim money or mind, but men. 

But a devoted Christian, recognizing the power of money in 
doing good,* may devote himself to such an acquisition as 

*Long after the grave closes with oblivion over most of the 
present generation, Harvard will remember with joyful gratitude the 
nearly $300,000 given to it by Agassiz ; and Princeton will remember 
the million and over which it got from John C. Green, and the 
magnificent chapel built by Marquand ; and Wesleyan will recount 
the repeated donations of Seney ; and Williams will herald the namef 
of William E. Dodge and Governor Morgan ; and Auburn Seminary 
will bless the splendid liberality of Edwin Morgan ; Union Seminary 
will dwell with pleasing emphasis upon the benfactions of Messrs. 
Brown and Morgan and Dodge ; and the seminary of the Reformed 
Church at New Brunswick Avill hold in reverent esteem the memories 
of James Suydam and of Gardner A. Sage, each of whom gave it over 
$200,000. From the cane brakes of the South, too, will rise through 
future years songs of blessing upon the head of John F. Slater for hav- 
ing provided, at a cost of over a million of dollars, abetter education, 
mental and moral, for the neglected colored people, while the " poor 
whites" of Louisiana will thank Paul Toulane, now of Princeton, 
for his enormous outlay of two millions of dollars in founding 
schools for their improvement. To read of these munificent endow- 



100 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

earnestly as the minister to the getting of knowledge-power, 
and his sterling Christian integrity will be, not a hindrance but 
a help to wealth. 

The wealthy men of our cities, as well as of our farms, are 
chiefly religious men. 

1 asked a prominent business man of Chicago, who has beec 
active in the very heart of its commercial life for sixteen years, 
to make a careful list of its one hundred richest men, and then 
tell me how many of them were chnrch members. His report 
was, " 70 church members ; 24 attend church, and I think are 
not members ; 3 I consider dissipated, and 3 are Jews who are 
good citizens." 

Although wealth has dulled the piety of some of these, there 
is no question but that religious principles helped them as 
young men to save money and themselves. 

One of the wealthiest manufacturers of Philadelphia told me 
that the percentage of Christian men among the wealthy of 
that city was as good as in Chicago. Rev. Dr. Washington 
Gladden is authority for the statement that about three fourths 
of the business men in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
are actively engaged in Christian work. These three represent 
the country at large far better than New York does. Three 
fourths of the replies to the question, " Are you a church mem- 
ber ?" were in the affirmative. "Blessed are the meek, for 
they shall inherit the earth." 

* ' There are in this loud whirling tide 
Of human care and crime. 
With whom the melodies abide 
Of the everlasting chime ; 

ments, and to think of the endless good they are designed to accom- 
plish, fairly makes one envy the rich man his opportunities of 
sending a new and higher life throbbing through thousands of 
bosoms. And yet, let us not envy him his good fortune, but rather 
praise God that he has it coupled with the disposition to use it so fruit- 
fully and so nobly in the interest of philanthropy, of truth, of 
goodness, and of all redemptive agencies. — Christian at Work. 



HONEST IK ORDER TO BE POOR? 101 

Who carry music in their heart 
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat."* 

The orbit of success is from prayer to work and from work 
to prayer, as Fra Angelico went from prayer to painting and 
from painting to prayer, and as I have known organists to go 
from oratory to organ. 

There are some Christians who do not believe the ' ' holy- 
strain" of prayer at all helps " the busy feet." It does not 
when the prayer is so loaded with selfishness that it cannot fly 
higher than the pocket. 

A Christian broker of New York, who knew Daniel Drew 
intimately, told me this unpublished story of his effort to use 
prayer as a " bull " or " bear" in the stock market. He was 
spending a Sunday in the country, and heard a sermon on tak- 
ing God as a partner in business. At the close of the service 
Mr. Drew said to a Christian business man who was with him, 
'' Do you believe that God will really help a man in his busi- 
ness if he prays about it?" " Yes," replied his friend. " I 
don't know about it," said Mr. Drew, but that night his friend 
heard him overhead in his room wrestling long and earnestly in 
prayer. It was like the pagan Greeks selfishly praying to 
Mercury for successful bargains. The next day Mr. Drew 
returned to New York early, and went into Erie stock opera- 
tions with a high hand, but lost heavily. A few weeks after 
he met his friend again, and said, ' ' You remember that coun- 
try sermon about prayer and profits?" "Yes," " IFeZZ, 
thereh nothing on to it, Fve tried it.'^ As well might a child 
say it was no use to ask his father for anything because some 
selfish and needless request was refused. On the other side of 
the account stands the fact that Chicago business men, who in 
large numbers gave the hour from 11 to 12 to a business man's 
prayer-meeting, during Mr. Moody's revival meetings in that 

* Keble. 



102 SUCCESSFUL MEl^ OF TO-DAY. 

city, testified that instead of doing less business they were 
able to do more, because of the mental quickening and rest 
of spirit which the meeting gave them. 

This fact is in harmony with that greater fact that the 
only nations which are up to the times in arts and industries 
are Christian nations, and nearly all the great inventions 
which are revolutionizing the business world were invented 
by men of prayer. All nations which have not been di- 
rectly influenced by Christianity are behind the times in 
business matters, weaving by hand while Christian nations 
weave by swift-footed steam. 

This is a more or less pertinent place to appeal to young 
men to study the duty and privilege of political success, 
with Koosevelt and Lodge for a double text. In a republic it 
would be supposed that the art and science of government 
would be highly esteemed and carefully prepared for. But 
the shallow political code of custom says that no man 
should announce himself as the candidate for any political 
office, much less for a political career. Koosevelt and 
Lodge, even when college freshmen, were too big to bow to 
such a foolish rule. They prepared for politics as their 
classmates prepared for professions, and were at it sooner 
after graduation, passing rapidly through State to national 
offices while in their early prime. It is surprising that so 
few educated young men of wealth have emulated such 
noble examples. While the British Cabinet and Parliament 
abounds in men of trained intellects, distinguished in 
scholarship, these two men and Secretary Hay are almost 
the only authors among our national political leaders. We 
must learn to make the appeal to young men for civic cour- 
age as effective as that which drew a quarter of a million 
to the field of arms to emancipate Cuba. It will help to 
this end for pulpit and platform and press to proclaim 
that such victories of peace as Eoosevelt^s battle with the 
Tammany "tiger" in New York and Folk^s yet greater 
battle with boodlers in Missouri and Weaver's fight in 
Philadelphia are really "not less renowned than war." 




REFORMERS 



XL 

MONEY AND MORALS. 

The city ! What is it but a vast amphitheatre, filled with racers, 
with charioteers, with eager competitors, surrounded by an unseen 
and awful array of witnesses ? And here, daily, the lists are opened, 
and men contend for success, for station, for power. " If a man 
strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive law- 
fully. "— Chapin. 

No statements as to the secrets of success are to be taken as 
more matter-of-fact than those which relate to character and 
the inner life. I believe our honored and wealthy men when 
they name in their replies, among the helps to their success, 
' ' Love to God and man; " " Consecration of life to God, " "An 
underlying motive to please God," " Prayer for direction, sup- 
port, and success," " Trusting in God to help me, and not trust- 
ing too much in others. ' ' One of the best-known manufacturers 
of our country says of his success, " My early connection with 
the Church did more than all else." And then ** honesty," 
which is the only holiness in market dress, is mentioned in 
nearly all of the replies as absolutely essential to abiding suc- 
cess, even in this world. 

On the other hand, "bad company" and "bad habits," 
which are other names for the lack of religion, are star per- 
formers in the list of reasons for failure. 

Of Mr. Green, of Savannah, Ga., who recently died, full of 
years and full of honors. Dr. Prime, of the Observer, says 
this : "To the young who questioned him as to the secret of 
success in life, I have heard him at various times assign three 
distinct reasons for his own : 



106 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

'' ' First, I was enabled to say No, when asked to join low 
company or frequent drinking-saloons. ' (Landing at Savannah 
as an English immigrant at the age of twenty-five, he was wel- 
comed by six young Englishmen, and asked, by way of hospi- 
tality, to take something to drink. He said, ' Yes, if I can 
choose my own drink ;' and, amid their sherry-cobblers and 
mint- juleps, he chose lemonade. This course he pursued, in 
spite of jeers and taunts, living to see five of those young men 
of position and capacity fill drunkards' graves.) 

" A second reason was ' consideration for the poor ' (Psalm 
43). He often said that when he came out from England to 
enter on a salary of six hundred dollars a year, he landed with 
one dollar in his pocket, and gave away half of it to a man 
poorer than himself, and the half he gave, not the half he 
kept, was the secret of his fortune. Giving is the father of 
getting. 

*' The third reason was his observance of the fifth command- 
ment. Year by year he went over to see his old father in Eng' 
land, and to bestow comforts upon him. On the very last 
occasion of seeing him, the old man pressed him down upon 
his knees, and, in patriarchal fashion, invoked the blessing of 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob upon him, closing with 
these words : ' As thou hast been a good son, so may God give 
thee good children, and it shall be well with thee now and 
forever.' " 

Who cannot see that religion is a mighty ally of economy, 
which is one of the essentials of a young man's success ? Vices 
cost more than virtues. A pew is cheaper than theatre tickets, 
and water or coffee than wine. Contributions for charity draw 
more lightly on the purse than the taxes of fast living. 

When a young man's Christianity keeps him from thinning 
out his body and his pocketbook by tobacco, the saving is still 
greater. Many a young smoker burns up in advance a fifty- 
thousand-dollar business. If you doubt it, reckon up the cost 
of your cigars per year, and then multiply it by forty and add 
the compound interest on each 3'ear's expense. 



MONEY AND MORALS. 107 

Religion is also more favorable to the development of a 
sound body, which is another element of success. Health 
helps to wealth, and religion, by its restraint of destroying pas- 
sions, helps to health. ' ' Righteousness tendeth to life. ' ' ^ 
In recent visits to several prisons 1 found few gray-haired crim^ 
mals. The officers told me this was not because the young 
criminals were led by punishment to reform, for very few did 
so, but because the victims of vice and crime " do not live out 
half their days." The grave comes to them before the gray. 
So true is this that life insurance examiners always feel the 
moral pulse, which is, of course, chiefly conserved by religion. 

Every one knows, or ought to know, that for nearly half a 
century now many of the best life assurance societies of Eng- 
land have insured moderate drinkers and total abstainers in 
separate sections, and that a bonus has been paid to the sections 
made up of total abstainers of seven, thirteen, seventeen, and in 
some cases of twenty-three per cent over that paid to the section 
of moderate drinkers, because abstainers live so much longer than 
moderate drinker s.\ - 

Of like significance was the fact, developed in 1895-6 by 
the United States Bureau of Labor (see 12th Annual Re- 
port), by inquiries sent to all sorts of American business 
establishments, that " more than half of the employers re- 
quired in certain occupations and under certain circum- 
stances that employes should not use intoxicating liquors.^^ 
This abstinence has come to be recognized as one reason 
for America's industrial supremacy, and, as a consequence, 
Great Britain, in 1905, adopted scientific temperance edu- 
cation. For like reason the German Emperor has con- 
demned the " beer pause " in German factories. 

Religion helps the mind, not only by quickening it, but also 
by quieting it. Contentment is not only better than wealth, 
but leads to it. Haste makes waste, especially haste to be rich. 

* See also Prov. 7 : 2 ; 10 : 27-30 ; 11 : 19 ; 19 : 23. 
f Joseph Cook's prelude of February Sth, 1883. 



108 SUCCESSFUL MEIT OF TO-DAY. 

The very fever of anxiety for wealth interferes with its acqiiisl- 
tion. Men who are in mad haste to get to the top of the 
ladder are pretty sure to fall to the bottom by some mis-step. 
Contentment, combined with wise ambition, carefully climbs to 
the top. The Christian man's mind is quieted by that won- 
derful bequest in our Father's last will and " Testament," "All 
things are yours." It is as if He had said. Your senses are 
delighted by the fragrance and beauty of the rich man's garden 
and the music that steals out from his palace, and if you are 
satisfied that he should have them, he can say no more ; indeed, 
your unselfish satisfaction is the deepest, for it is only the 
miser who enjoys only what he owns. That man is richest 
who can enjoy the luxuries and beauties around him without 
the vulgar idea of possession. In this deep sense, as well as 
the more literal one to which I have referred, the words of 
Christ are true, " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit 
the earth." 

Ileli2:ion helps to success chiefly by fortifying integrity, which 
is a man's best " reserve stock." It is the business house that 
is built on this rock that stands fires and floods. 

How was it that so many of the great business houses of 
Chicago, when every dollar of their property was swept away 
by the great fire, were able at once to resume even wholesale 
business ? With what coin did penniless men buy their new 
stock ? With integrity. Their record was their revenue. A 
good name was in some cases literally worth as much as great 
riches. Their business biography in the mercantile agency, 
with its record that they always paid one hundred cents on the 
dollar, and paid promptly and dealt honorably and worked in- 
dustriously — that biography was as good as a bank account. 
Character was their capital. That is, not Bible, but Bradshaw ; 
not Sunday-school morality, but Mercantile Agency truth. One 
who, like Job, loses his property but retains his integrity, has 
not *Most all." It is like losing the frame from one of 
Raphael's pictures, but retaining the picture itself. One who 
has lost his good name is a pauper even if he dwells in a palace. 



MOKEY AlfD MORALS. 109 

The positive commercial value of integrity to win and to 
liold customers may be illustrated by an incident of the fur 
trade, of which duplicates might be given from every other 
trade. Indians can be made treacherous, but they can be 
honest, and who shall say how the dishonesty of others has led 
to their treachery ? They know when they are cheated, as our 
Government has found to its cost. An old trader, who had 
established himself at what happened to be a favorable locality 
among the northern Indians, tells a good story of his first 
trials with his red customers. Other traders had located in 
that same place before, but had not remained long. The 
Indians, who evidently wanted goods, and had money and furs, 
flocked about the store of the new trader, and examined his 
wares, but offered to buy nothing. Finally their chief, with a 
large number of his tribe visited him. " How do, John ?" 
said the chief, " show me goods. Ah ! I take that blanket 
for me and that calico for squaw — three otter skins for blanket 
and one for calico. Ugh ! pay you by'm by to-morrow." 
He received his goods and left. On the next day he returned 
ivith a large part of his band, his blanket well stuffed with skins 
of various kinds. " Now, John, I pay." And with this he 
drew an otter-skin from his blanket and laid it on the counter. 
Then he drew a second, a third, a fourth. A moment's hesi- 
tation, as though calculating, and he drew out a fifth skin, a 
rery rich and rare one, and passed it over. " That's right, 
Tohn." The trader instantly pushed back the last skin, say- 
mg, *' You owe me but four. I only want my just dues." 
The chief refused to take it, and they passed it back and forth 
several times, each one asserting that it belonged to the other. 
At length the dusky chieftain appeared satisfied. He gave the 
trader a scrutinizing look, and then put the skin back into the 
blanket. Then he stepped to the door, and gave a yell, and 
cried to his followers : " Come ! Come and trade with the 
paleface John. He no cheat Indian. His heart big !" Then, 
turning to the trader, he said, " Supposing you take last skin 
' — I tell my people no trade with ^^ou. We drive off others ,' 



110 SUCCESSFUL MEK OE TO-DAY. 

but now you be Indians' friend, and we be yours." Before 
dark the trader was waist deep in skins and loaded down with 
cash. He found that honesty had a commercial value with 
those Indians. " The lip of truth shall be established forever : 
but a lying tongue is but for a moment." 

Before the era of steam, men used to tow their boats wearily 
up the lower Ohio, or the Mississippi, with a long line. At 
night it was not always safe for them to fasten their boats on 
the bank while they slept, because there was danger from the 
wash of the underflowing current that they would find them- 
selves drifting and pulling a tree after them. Therefore they 
souglijt out well planted, solid, enduring trees, and tied to them, 
and the phrase became popular, ^''That man will do to tie to.'^ 
That sort of men are sometimes found outside the church, men 
who were trained by Christian parents, but they are chiefly 
seen among the Christian " trees of righteousness" along the 
river of life. " The great want of this age is men. Men who 
are not for sale. Men who are honest, sound from centre to 
circumference, true to the heart's core. Men who will con- 
demn wrong in a friend or foe, in themselves as well as 
others. Men whose consciences are as steady as the needle to 
the pole. Men who will stand for the right if the heavens 
totter and the earth reel. Men who can tell the truth, and 
look the world and the devil right in the eye. Men that 
neither brag nor run. Men that neither flag nor flinch. Men 
who have courag-e without shoutino- to it. Men in whom the 
current of everlasting life runs still, deep, and strong. Men 
who do not cry nor cause their voices to be heard on the streets, 
but who will not fail nor be discouraged till judgment be set in 
the earth. Men who know their message, and tell it. Men 
who know their places, and fill them. Men who know their 
own business. Men who will not lie. Men who are not too 
lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor. Men who are willing 
to eat what they have earned, and wear what they have paid 
for. Those are the men to move the world." 

In proportion as men are like Christ, the industrious car- 



MOiq'EY AJSTD MORALS. Ill 

penter and the generous philanthropist, will they meet that 
want. 

I believe religion helps a man in business also by direct 
blessings from God — not that Job's *' miserable comforters" 
were right in their theory that adversity is the outward sign of 
sin, and prosperity of goodness. If a good man's corn always 
prospered and the fields of his wicked neighbor were as regu- 
larly blighted, religion would be overrun with that sort of bum- 
mers that always join the victorious party to get the spoils. 
The fact that some Christian principles seem to be inconvenient 
in business life, and that they do not directly and always turn 
to gold, keeps off these insincere camp-followers, who are too 
shallow to see that nevertheless the path of the just is the path 
to success. Most of the suffering poor are the victims of vice. 
Most of the well-to-do are those who have been in a large de- 
gree loyal to the laws of God.* 

Some years ago, a country preacher who had been appointed 
chaplain of the prison at Sing Sing, clumsily began his work 
by patting a prisoner on the back and saying, " Do you love 
the Lord ?" The convict replied sharply, " What do you take 
me for ? If I had loved the Lord I shouldnH he here^ Most 
of those in the almshouses could say the same. Those who 
love the Lord do not dwell in prisons or often in poorhouses, 
but mostly in comfortable homes. In some way they get a 
hundredfold in this life, either of land or houses or children or 
influence or joy, and in the world to come life everlasting. 

* Prov. 10 : 3 ; 11 ; 28, 31 ; 12 : 21 ; 13 : 6, 21 ; 14 : 11, 22. 



xri. 

THE BUSINESS MEN OF THE BIBLE. 

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy month ; but thou 
shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do 
according to all that is written therein : for then thou shalt make thy 
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. — Joshua 
1:8. 

Religion is especially an aid to success because the Bible is 
full of helpful hints to the man of business. All through its 
pages we see Religion walking in the market-place as the guide 
and helper of busy men. Business success and failure is one of 
its chief topics. 

At the very outset the Bible shows that Adam, the first 
farmer, failed because he had too much devil and too little 
religion in his business. 

The secret of Abraham's success as an honest emigrant is 
seen to be his integrity and avoidance of bad company, which 
last, together with a passion for fine real estate, made his 
nephew, "the Hon. Mr. Lot, of Sodom," a bankrupt. Lot 
allowed financial attractions to settle him in a bad neighbor- 
hood, and for a fine piece of land mortgaged the morals of his 
family, and lost both at last. " Abraham," it is said, " was a 
gentleman, but Jacob was a Jew." The latter made money by 
imitations, by false pretences, by a " corner" in pottage on 
Esau, and by tricks in stock-raising ; but he found as little 
comfort in his ill-gotten gains as his successors of to-day. 
Like some of the latter, he was continually afraid that some of 
those whom he had cheated would kill him. 

The Bible points us also to the bad bargain of Joseph's 



THE BUSINESS MEK OF THE BIBLE. 113 

brethren in selling their brother to the Ishmaelites, and them- 
selves to future remorse for fifteen dollars. Twenty years 
afterward they bitterly recalled that transaction in prison, and 
said, " We are verily guilty concerning our brother." No 
bargain is a good one that is not pleasant to remember. 
*' Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, it is the gall of 
asps within him."* Many a modern Joseph has been sold 
by his brethren through some of the advertisements in the 
papers that offer to fools a fortune for a few days or dollars. 
In Joseph as a man we see a model commissioner of agricult- 
ure, laying up store for wwrainy days. 

In Exodus we are shown the wickedness of holding souls as 
property. 

The Bible books from Joshua to Job are a series of sermons 
on the secrets of success and failure, illustrated by the brief 
biographies of fifty rulers, all negatively or positively enforcing 
that text which is the key verse of all Old Testament history : 
*' As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." 

In the heart of the Bible lies the business man's own book — 
Proverbs. There is hardly a maxim of business success that 
was not suggested by it. The father who has in mind only the 
worldly success of his sons and daughters, and the merchant 
who wishes only to give the secret of temporal prosperity to 
his clerks and employes, cannot do a more appropriate thing 
than to give each of them the Book of Proverbs for their guid- 
ance — a pocket edition for constant use.f Where can you find 
better mottoes for shops and stores and farms than are given in 
its pages ? ' ' The hand of the diligent shall bear rule. " " The 
hand of the diligent maketh rich." " The, thoughts of the 
diligent tend only to plenteousness. " ''Be thou diligent to 
know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds." 
"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread." 



* Eead Job 20 : 12, etc. ; Prov. 20 : 17. 

f American Bible Society, Bible House, N. Y., issue such an edition 
at 4 cents each. 



114 SUCCESSFUL MEK OE TO-DAY. 

'' Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? He shall stand 
before kings : he shall not stand before mean men." 

The sluggard, the idler, and the spendthrift find no hiding- 
place amid its chapters. " He becometh poor that dealeth 
with a slack hand." " As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke 
to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him." Like 
the sharp clear ring of the rising bell sounds that verse : " Love 
not sleep lest thou come to poverty : open thine eyes and thou 
shalt be satisfied with bread."* This Book of Proverbs, as a 
guide to industry, surpasses all other collections of maxims. 

The Book of Ecclesiastes shows us how to prevent secular 
success from producing moral failure, as it did in the case of 
Solomon. Several of my correspondents enumerate among the 
causes of failure, " success." It takes a strong man to bear 
success. Weak men are led by it to vices which destroy prop- 
erty or character, or both. The keeper of a toll-gate near a 
cemetery says that business is now " very good " with him, 
and that funerals are much more numerous in times of national 
prosperity than in " hard times." As failure often leads to 
success, success often leads to failure. Hon. William E. 
Dodge, speaking at one of the anniversaries of the Fulton 
Street Prayer-Meeting, said that the business men of New 
York were in more danger in that year of unparalleled pros- 
perity, when the crops of the world were larger than they had 
ever been before, than they were in the " hard times " of 
1857, when the prayer-meeting originated. ^'' Jeshurun waxed 
fat and kicked." " Before I was afSicted, I went astray." 

" Hear the conclusion of the whole matter," says Ecclesi- 
astes (that is, Solomon, who had enjoyed all forms of worldly 
success and found them insufficient for the aching void in 
his heart that was made for God's Spirit to fill) : " Fear 
God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole 
duty of man." 

*Read Prov. 10 : 4, 5; 11 : 20, 29; 12 : 11, 22, 24; 13 : 4, 18; 20 : 4, 
13-16 ; 21 : 5 ; 22 : 4, 29 ; 27 : 23 ; 29 : 19. 



THE BUSII^'ESS MEI^ OF THE BIBLE. 115 

The prophetic books have much to say to the robber-nations 
of those times about the curse o*f stolen lands. 

Then in the Gospels, more than half of Christ's parables are 
about business life, and have their first and direct application 
there. Matthew is the book of God's reckonings with men, 
written by a converted tax collector. It is a sermon on the 
text, " The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth : much 
more the wicked and the sinner. ' ' (Romans is also a book of 
reckoning — God's reckoning with us in grace.) Of nothing 
did Christ have more to say, outside of personal salvation, 
than of the right use of money. He uttered his woes of warn- 
ing against the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees of the temple, 
but the only ones he whipped out of it, as too wicked to endure, 
were the traders. 

The Book of Acts is full of applications of God's law to 
money matters — the generous giving of the early Church to 
their poor until there was none among them that lacked ; the 
indirect suicide of Ananias and his wife, who poisoned them- 
selves with " the root of all kinds of evil ;" Paul making tents 
and sermons at the same time, and acting as the heroic An- 
thony Comstock of his age in exposing and suppressing frauds, 
such as the sorcerer of Cyprus, the sorcerer of Philippi, the 
idol -makers and corrupting publishers of Ephesus. Paul's 
pathway as a conqueror was marked by bonfires of bad books, 
and mobs indignant that the hope of corrupt gains was gone. 

The Epistles, including Revelation, are also largely devoted 
to displacing in human hearts the root of all kinds of evil, by 
planting there the love of man, which is the root of all kinds 
of goodness. That man then is a true successor to the apostles 
who seeks to import more of religious principles into modern 
business life. 



XIII. 

*^CAN BUSINESS BE CONDUCTED SUCCESSFULLY 
ON STRICT CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES?" 

It has been the plan of my life to follow my convictions at what- 
ever personal cost to myself. — Gaefeeld. 

That an importation of principles into trade is greatlj 
needed is significantly shown by the fact that the Congrega- 
tional Club of New York recently and seriously discussed the 
question, *' Can business be conducted successfully on strict 
Christian principles?" The question reminds me of a young 
man who proposed to conduct his business in that way in New 
York City. He was assured by an old merchant that there was 
no city in the land where he would have so little competition 
in that line. The conclusion of the debate was that it was 
practicable to conduct business on Christian principles, but 
very hard work.* 

* The true story of long-ago experience in a high-toned Boston 
house might have been told, but was not, to show how one youth 
early learned the art of doing a successful business on principles — 
of a certain sort. The head of the house was a strenuous defender 
and shining example of the piety that keeps up one's lofty self- 
respect. He held that a man is not going to be saved by what he be- 
lieves or experiences, but by the honest and honorable things he does. 
Of all things he scouted lying. Even the second in command was 
one day reprimanded before all hands, and nearly lost his place, for 
swerving a little from the straight line to effect a sale. Not long 
after, a job lot of heavy, durable unbleached shirtings was found at 
a very low price, and an unusually large stock was laid in. They 
were offered at eight cents a yard, and were worth more money. The 
good Bostonians read the advertisements, looked at the open bales 



CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IX BUSINESS. 117 

I have found not a few men who frankly declared it was 
harder work than they were willing to undertake. A member 
of a Baptist church in Miami County, Ind., while giving his 
experience not long ago, said : " Brethren, I've been a tryin' 
this nigh on to forty years to serve the Lord and get rich both 
at onct, and I tell yer it's mighty hard sleddiu'." 

An English correspondent states that a paper was read before 
the Barnet Y. M, C. A. on " Conventional Falsehoods," which 
led to a discussion as to whether, under any circumstances, 
evasion, deceit, or absolute untruth, were morally defensible. 
Eight voted on the affirmative and six on the negative side, 
while a large number abstained from voting. This, if correct, 
would indicate that the Barnet Association should for the pres- 
ent eliminate the word " Christian" from its title. 

A young man who works in a large mill said to a Christian 
worker who had spoken to him about religion, " That's all 
very well, but in the factories you could not be a Christian." 
Others have expressed the opinion that one cannot be a Chris- 
tian in the fruit business, in the livery business, in the profes- 
sion of law, etc. I don't believe that is true in any legitimate 
business. If a man is in any other kind, such as trading in 

filling the floor, but didn't buy. Scarcely a piece was sold, and the 
boys said, " The old man is stuck on that lot." High tides at that 
time had flooded many cellars in the louver parts of the city — where 
this store was not — and " damaged goods" were plenty at low prices. 
A few days later, the high-toned old man sent two of the boys to buy 
a washtub, had them take it to the cellar, fill it with water, pass the 
pieces of shirting slowly through the bath, and pile them again on 
the bale cloths on the salesroom floor. Next morning's papers flamed 
with advertisements of extra heavy brown shirting, " wet in the cel- 
lar," to be sold by the piece, uncut, at (the Yankee) sixpence a yard — 
eight and one third cents. And how they did seU ! The boys were 
kept busy below in supplying the salesmen, till not a piece was left. 
The goods " wet in the cellar" brought a handsome advance on the 
price asked for them when dry ; the buyers got good bargains, and 
the seller (who scorned to tell a lie) made a satisfactory profit by only 
acting one. "Wasn't that a successful business done on — princi- 
ples ?— A. H. C. 



118 SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAY. 

vices by a saloon or a sporting paper, he had better promote 
himself into the position of an honest scavenger, with a dollar 
a day of clean money, than get ten times as much as the price 
of blood. 

Not only in the Bible, but in many such disgraceful careers 
as Tweed's and James Fisk's, Grod has written, " Riches of 
wickedness profit nothing. " Such gains bring pains. Even if 
they make rich, they add sorrow with it. A blood stain is ^n 
all the gold won by selling alcoholic or literary incitements to 
vice and crime. A curse is on the bottles and sensational story 
papers of the devil's shop- windows, and also on selling cigar- 
ettes to growing boys. Whether it is right or not to sell a 
thing as injurious as tobacco to anybody, it is certainly wicked 
to sell it to boys, and every tobacco dealer who does this may 
fairly be counted with Joseph's brethren and Pharaoh and 
Herod among boy-destroyers, who slaughter the innocents. 

No true man will engage in any business on which he cannot 
ask God's blessing that it may be a blessing to the community. 
Mr. Moody, speaking in a Scottish church, whose steeple had 
been given by a rich distiller, denounced the whole liquor busi- 
ness ; whereupon the distiller wrote him a note asking his 
objections. The reply was characteristic of the common -sense 
evangelist : " We are commanded, whatever we do, whether 
we eat or drink, to do it to the glory of God. If you can 
distil a barrel of whiskey and then kneel over it and say, * Oh 
God, bless this whiskey, and send it forth to be a blessing to 
thy name,' all right." 

Bat in every proper business a man can be a true Christian 
and succeed. Sin is not the winning horse in the long run, 
even in the livery business. I know of livery men who keep 
the Sabbath and also keep their hearts from animalism, and yet 
prosper even in money matters. As of old, they put ' ' holiness 
3n the bells of horses," perhaps they may be able, in the good 
time coming, as Kentucky's Buford sought to do, to sanctify 
he rse-racing, after divorcing it from gambling. 

1^0 fruit dealer can make me believe that honest measure 



CHEISTIAN PRINCIPLES IIT BUSINESS. 119 

and fruit as good at the bottom as the top is not the best pohcy 
in the end. Even a lawyer may refuse to aid knaves to escape 
from justice and not die in the poorhouse. 

In all these cases it does not lessen the guilt of dishonesty or 
disobedience that one's name is not on the church book. God 
expects every man to do his duty. Church membership does 
not one whit increase his duties, but helps him to perform them. 
Alas that so many in the Church and out of it do many things 
of whose Tightness they are in doubt ! When there is suspense 
of conscience there ought to be suspense of action. God and 
conscience should be given the benefit of the doubt. Men talk 
of being " average honest," which means dishonest. They 
speak of doing " about right." About right is all wrong. 
Try it in a sum of long division by making a mistake on the 
first figure of the quotient. 

" Please, father, is it wrong to go pleasuring on the Lord's 
day ? My teacher says it is." 

" Why, child, perhaps it is not exactly right." 

" Then it is wrong, isn't it, father ?" 

*' Oh, I don't know that, if it is only once in a while." 

" Father, you know how fond I am of sums ?" 

" Yes, John, I'm glad you are. I want you to do them 
well, and be quick and clever at figures ; but why do you talk 
of sums just now ?" 

'' Because, father, if there is one little figure put wrong in a 
sum it makes it all wrong, however large the amount is." 

*' To be sure, child, it does." 

*' Then, father, don't you think that if God's day is put 
wrong now and then, it makes it all wrong ?" 

" Put wrong, child— how ?" 

'' I mean, father, put to a wrong use." 

" That brings it very close," said the father, as if speaking 
to himself, and then he added : ' ' John, it is wrong to break 
God's holy Sabbath. He has forbidden it, and your teacher 
was quite right. We will hereafter ' remember the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy.' " 



120 SUCCESSFCTL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

There are no evangelists who could do so much for a reviva, 
as business men can do by courageous loyalty to religion in 
business matters. 

It was proposed to the Duke of Wellington to purchase a 
certain farm in the neighborhood of his estate at Strathfield- 
saye. He assented. When the transfer was completed, his 
steward, who had made the purchase, congratulated him upon 
having made a great bargain, as the seller was in difficulties, 
and forced to part with his farm. *^ What do you mean by a 
bargain ?" said the duke. The steward replied, '' It was valued 
at £5500, and we got it for £4000." " In that case," said the 
duke, " you will please to carry the extra £1500 to the late 
owner, and never talk to me of cheap land again." 

An unfair bargain and a Bible don't mate well as a span. 
You can't drive both along the same road. Christians whose 
religion is not shown by their Monday bargains as well as their 
Sunday songs are counterfeits. " Religion is good for nothing 
one day in the week unless it is good for all the seven." 
Christianity is not a Sabbatic spring that flows only one seventh 
of the time. 

God doesn't split up our lives into slices and say, ** In this 
church building you must obey God, but in yonder store it 
doesn't matter if the devil is king. On this Sunday you must 
mind the Bible, but to-morrow you may sell stale poultry as 
fresh, and pile inferior fruit upon the false bottoms of your 
fruit baskets, or help knaves out of jail by law quibbles. By 
and by if you join the church, all these will be wrong. Such 
men will not do to tie to. You might as well anchor a ship to 
a floating log. 

But there are thousands of true Christian men in our busy 
marts, who substitute trust in truth for tricks of trade. They 
do not, like Esau, profane their manhood, and sell their birth- 
right of a good name for the pottage of immediate gratification. 
They are longer in winning money than some of the godless 
Esaus of to-day, but they also keep it longer. 



CHRISTIAi;r PRINCIPLES II?" BUSIN"ESS. 121 

Religion does get into business and let its light shine there in 
cases not a few. 

One of those incidents on which Diogjenes would have de- 
lighted to turn his lighted lantern happened recently at Milford, 
Mass. Mr. Hiram A. Goodrich, a leading grocer, who was 
selling out his stock preparatory to leaving town, in looking 
over his old accounts found that when he bought his stand of 
Mr. Samuel Rock wood, a mistake of forty-six dollars had been 
made in his favor in carrying out the price of some flour. The 
mistake was made fifteen yeais ago by the man who took an 
inventory of the stock, but Mr. Goodrich figured up the inter- 
est, and found that with the original amount he owed Mr. 
Rockwood about one hundred and fifty dollars. This was ten- 
dered him, but Mr. Rockwood would accept only the principal. 
Such a case of honesty should be put on record by people who 
are continually lamenting the deterioration of morals. The 
world is not growing worse, though it is far from the best. 
The former times were not better than these, but " there are a 
good many hard days' work between this and the millennium." 

The Plymouth Congregational Church, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
years ago built themselves a beautiful church edifice. The 
contractor drew the money due for work done, and instead of 
paying his workmen, left for parts unknown, carrying the funds 
with him. These workmen had not a shadow of a claim upon 
the trustees, and expected nothing from them. But thirteen 
hundred dollars were due them from the absconded contractor, 
and they needed the money. The pastor. Rev. Mr. Collins, 
said to his people : " True, we do not owe these men a 
farthing ; still, let us make an effort to give them what their 
dishonest employer owes them, and never let it be said that 
unrequited toil went into the rearing of this temple of the Most 
High." And all the people said, Amen. The laborers went 
that night to their homes rejoicing, carrying their lost and 
found pieces of silver with them. 

The genuineness of the burglar's conversion, who placed his 
entire *' kit" in Jerry McAuley's hands, at his Cremorne Mis- 



122 SUCCESSFUL MEK OF TO-DAY. 

si on recently, is sufficiently well attested, and is matched by 
the painter who declared in a prayer-meeting that he knew he 
was converted, " for now," ho said, " I always paint the tops 
of the doors ;" and also by the house-servant, whose conversion 
made her sweep under the mats. One day, when the subject 
under consideration in a prayer- meeting was the " Practical 
effect of religion in daily life," a man got up and said, " I 
can't say much about it, but I know that since I was converted 
I put better work into my shoes than I did before." 

During the Moody meetings in Boston a lady said to a 
Boston storekeeper, " Is this real English lace ?" "It was, 
madam, previous to the tabernacle meetings, but it isn't now : 
it's simply imitation." An English woman came into one of 
Mr. Moody's meetings, and four or five bottles of wine came 
up before her soul. She said, " I stole them from my master, 
and he is dead." Mr. Moody said, "Has he no heirs?" 
" Yes, he has a son." She was advised to give the value of 
the wine to his son. She took a $25 note to him, and insisted 
on his taking it. Then she came back telling what light and 
praise filled her heart. Another man gave about $1500 resti- 
tution-money before he could receive Christ. 

Beethoven, when he had completed one of his grand musical 
compositions, was accustomed to test it on an old harpsichord, 
lest a more perfect instrument might flatter it or hide its 
defects. The old harpsichord on which to test our religious 
life, our new song, is the market-place. A man, like muddy 
water, may be very peaceful when he is quietly " settled," — 
not shaken up by temptation. That proves nothing about his 
religious life. But if a man's patience and peace and princi- 
ples can stand the test of business his religion is genuine, and 

will 

" Make life, death, and the vast forever, 
One grand, sweet song." 

"It is laughable to see one hunting high and low for his 
spectacles when they have been only shoved up over his fore- 
head. But it is not laughable to see Christians hunting for 



CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS. 123 

what they call opportunities to honor God, while overlooking 
such opportunities which they carry with them wherever they 
go. A slovenly carpenter was once heard at a weekly prayer- 
meeting to pray with great fervency for the spread of Christ's 
cause — a cause which he disgraced and hindered in his sphere 
every time he stood at his work-bench. When he ended his 
prayer, a hearty ' Amen !' came from a servant who put her 
mistress out of temper a hundred times a day by her careless- 
ness. A clerk also was there, who, although he taught a class in 
the mission-school on Sundays, was always late at his employer's 
store week-days. He whispered ' Amen ! ' too — and meant it, 
so far as he knew himself. A lady hearer, as she listened, 
resolved to join the church missionary society, and then went 
home and found unreasonable fault with her cook. And others 
also felt warmed to do something for Christ, who never seemed 
to have thought that religion, like charity, begins at home. 
The mechanic who is powerful in class-meeting and weak at 
his trade is no credit to the cause he professes. The servant 
who drops tears feelingly at religious services and drops dishes 
unfeelingly in the kitchen has her tenderness altogether too 
much on one side. And it is a poor kind of religion which 
eeeks opportunities to set others straight, but overlooks its own 
crookedness. ' ' * 

" I once read a story f of a holy man, some say it was St. 
Anthony, which had been a long season in the wilderness, 
eating nor drinking nothing but bread and water ; at length 
he thought himself so holy that there should be nobody like 
unto him. Therefore he desired of God to know who should 
be his fellow in heaven. God made him answer, and com- 
manded him to go to Alexandria ; there he should find a cob- 
bler which should be his fellow in heaven. So he went thither 
and sought him out, and fell acquainted with him, and tarried 
with him three or four days to see his conversation p.e., in the 

* Sunday- School Times. 

i Latimer, fifth sermon on Lord's Prayer, 1552, 



124 SUCCESSFUL MEi^ OF TO-DAY. 

sense of Heb. 12 : 7, ' manner of life ']. In the morning his 
wife and he [the cobbler] prayed together, then they went to 
their business, he in his shop, and she about her housewifery. 
At dinner-time they had bread and cheese, wherewith they were 
well content, and took it thankfully. Their children were well 
taught to feare God, and to say their pater noster [the Lord's 
Prayer], and the Creede, and the Ten Commandments, and so 
he spent his time in doing his duty truely. I warrent you 
[this is a side-winder of practical application] he did not so 
many false stitches as cobblers doe now adayes. St. Anthony 
perceiving that, came to the knowledge of himself, and layed 
away all pride and presumption." The most devout of medi- 
tative Christians may find his peer in piety in the busy marts 
of trade. No Christian should for a moment fall into the 
monkish mistake that he must retreat into the devil's market- 
place of idleness before his piety can be fully developed. 

Devotion and action God has joined together, and let no man 
put them asunder. In Christ's miracles this wedding of faith 
and works is often pictured. It is said of Peter's mother-in- 
law, "The fever left her, and she ministered unto them." 
After healing, housekeeping (Mark 1 : 31). So when Jairus's 
daughter was raised to life Christ " commanded that some- 
thing should be given her to eat" (Mark 6 : 43).* 

Many would sympathize with the remark of the Duke of 
Alva when he was asked by the King of France if he had ob- 
served the eclipses that had just been occurring. " No, 1 
have so much business on earth that I have no time to look up to 
heaven.''^ Both may be united, the working and the uplooking, 
as in the case of Moses, who was a Gladstone in the multiplicity of 
his work — the oversight of the temporal and spiritual interests of 
millions of people. The blending of his earthly and heavenly 
business are thus described : " He endured as seeing the invis- 
ible." 

We all have time for whatever we feel must be done. The 
time is here. The only question is. What shall we do with it ! 

* See also Acts 9 : 34. 



CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS. 125 

Some want al] the time for themselves. Some share it with 
their beloved ones. Some devote a portion of it to the needy. 
" Blessed are they," says Thomas a Kempis, " who are glad to 
have time to spare for God, and who shake off all worldly 
hindrances." 

As the water drops of the storm-clouds are transfigured b} 
the sunlight into rainbows, so the lowliest work is transfigured 
by thoughts of God shining through it. So it was with the 
old negro washerwoman who sang, as she climbed the stairs 
wearily at night after her hardest day, " One more day's work 
for Jesus." So it was with the Christian child in the mission 
Sunday-school, who was asked, *' What are you doing for 
Jesus?" and replied, '* I scrubs." It is especially to hired 
laborers that it is said, " Whatsoever ye do, work heartily as 
unto the Lord and not unto men, for ye serve the Lord Christ." 

With Carlyle, work, whether of devising brain or helping 
hand, is the escape from evil ; with Ruskin it is the doorway 
of good. There was sound philosophy and true religion in the 
nesfro's rebuke to his lazy associate, " Do you expect to go to 
Heaven? Then take hold and lift." There is small chance 
of a lazy or idle man entering there. 

If you will go to the banks of a little stream and watch the 
flies that come to bathe in it, you will notice that they plunge 
their bodies in the water but keep their wings above it, and 
after swimming about a little while they fly away with their 
wings unwet through the sunny air. So when we are immersed 
in the cares of the world, let us keep the wings of our faith and 
love above them, that with these unclogged we may often fly 
in thought to heaven. 

Surely Christ is fitted to be the business man's helper and 
adviser. Note well the morning when the unsuccessful fisher- 
man took his advice as to casting their nets and came to the 
shore with an unusual catch of fish. Through the power of 
prayer the same Christ can help us in business to-day. 



XIV. 

COUNTERFEIT SUCCESS. 

v^ / 'Tis only noble to be good. — Tennyson. 

" To win and to wear, 
To have and to bold, 
Is the burden of dream and of prayer, 
Tbe bope of tbe young 
And tbe bope of tbe old, 
Tbe prize of tbe strong and tbe fair. 
All dream of some guerdon life's labor to bless, 
All winning tbat guerdon bave named it — Success."* 

But it is often a false name. Tbe accomplishment of one's 
purpose is not necessarily success. It is sometimes the worst 
kind of failure, as in the case of Abab, wbo obtained tbe real 
estate of Nabotb which he wisbed for, but at tbe cost of bis 
honor. Many anotber has won a selfish gratification of appe- 
tite or covetousness by sacrificing his purity or generosity. 
Acbieving one's wisb, with more loss tlian profit, is surely not 
success. If wisbes were horses, beggars would often ride to 
ruin. " Success to bumbug, " says a Frencb proverb. But 
humbug is always failure. Tbe moral loss exceeds tbe money 
gain, and " leaves one poor indeed." 

On the otber hand, to fail of one's aim may be a prelude of 
true success, as when Peter Cooper lost ten dollars in gambling 
and was forever cured of it at tbe very beginning of his career, 
and as in tbe case of Judge Tourgee, the author of " A Fool's 
Errand," wbose failure as a legal reconstructionist led to bis 

* Bev. D. H. Ela, D.D. 



COUlirTERrEIT SUCCESS. 127 

success as a reconstruction author. In a letter to me he 
attributes his success, " such as it is," chiefly to " an aptitude 
for folly." But it takes something more than folly to organize 
defeat into victory, to build success upon failure, as he has 
done. 

Men worship success, but oftener in false images of it than 
in the reality. True success has been as much misrepresented 
as the true God. The word success is as often misapplied as 
liberty. Oh, Success, how many crimes have bepu committed 
in thy name ! A man obtains thousands or millions of dollars 
by legal or illegal thieving, and society, instead of sending him 
to prison, receives him into its parlors. Men bow low when 
he passes, as in the fable the people bowed to the golden idols 
that were strapped on the back of a donkey, who was ass 
enough to swell with pride in the thought that all this rever- 
ence was for him. 

Mere wealth is no more success than fools' gold is real gold. 
Collaterals do not take the place of character. Many successful 
men, like Agassiz, " have no time to make money." " Wis- 
dom is better than rubies." * It is not success for a man to 
turn his heart into a money-vault by driving out all his nobler 
sentiments. It is not success to win wealth by such means that 
the winner is always fearing the pistol-shot of revenge. For 
one to be the richest man in a State, but so bankrupt of refine- 
ment that he finds his pleasures in beastly walking-matches and 
horse-races, no more constitutes success than a jewel in a 
swine's snout. Indeed, if we believed in Darwinism it would 
not be hard to trace the pedigree of those who keep for them- 
selves millions more of money than they can use, even on the 
costliest food and clothes — millions more than they can safely 
or justly leave to their children, while thousands are suffering 
with hunger and cold and ignorance and sin all over the world, 
for lack of that very money. 

These richest men will not even cease to grasp for more. 
* The sea cries for water." Just here we see the failure of 

* Read Pro v. 3 : 13-14 ; 8 : 11, 18-21. 



128 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

many rich men, who in seeking money as a good servant have 
really won a despotic taskmaster. Instead of having money, 
money has them. Wealth has proved to them a man-stealer. 
It has kidnapped their manhood. Slavery is not success. 
There is need of Patience on the monuments that glorify Dives. 
There is no virtue in being a Lazarus. Poverty is not a pass- 
port to heaven, nor wealth the key to hell. Christ's parable 
means that it is better to be one of God's rich poor than one 
of the devil's poor rich. But it is better still to be a good 
Dives, rich for both worlds, like Abraham and Job. But 
'* riches without wisdom are food without salt !" The man 
who is so mismanaging his life that when he passes into the 
other world, where all save " a handbreadth" of his existence is 
to be spent, he will leave all he has and enter there a bankrupt, 
with no treasure laid up in heaven, is not a success, even though 
he may be a millionaire. 

I make no crusade against wealth in itself. The lever that 
was to move the world we find to be a lever of gold, and the 
place which Archimedes could not find on which to place it is 
the Rock of Ages. We would not, then, condemn wealth, but 
convert it to the truth. We would not destroy it, but employ 
it for humanity. Christ did not condemn those who sold oxen 
and sheep and doves because they were merchants, but because 
they made his Father's house " a house of merchandise" and 
*' a den of thieves." Consecrated talents of gold as well as of 
genius are blessed by the Saviour's words and win the applause 
of Heaven's " Well done." 

But the man who puts his trust in gold and deposits his 
heart in the bank, and thinks money means success, is like the 
starving traveller in the desert, who, seeing a bag in the dis- 
tance, found in it, instead of food which he sought, nothing but 
gold, and flung it from him in disappointment, and died for 
want of something that could save his life. The soul will 
starve if gold alone administers to its needs. 

Better to be a man than merely a millionaire. Better to 
have a head and heart than merely house and lands. Success 



COUNTERFEIT SUCCESS. 129 

in the sense of satisfaction is not found even in palaces of 
wealth, if Christ does not dwell with us there. 

Worldly men are only satisfied with a little more than they 
have. " He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with 
silv^er. " Columbus and his followers, when they had landed 
on this continent, at once asked the Indians for the land of 
gold, of which they long had dreamed. They were pointed 
over the mountains, and when they had crossed them they 
were pointed beyond yet other mountains, and so day after day 
they climbed the hills in vain. " So," says Irving, " the land 
of gold is ever beyond the mountains." 

As young men especially, we are apt to think that the cata- 
logue of happiness and success is all written on the back of 
bank-bills, and some are willing to coin their hearts to increase 
their wealth. You look upon the rich man as the incarnation 
of satisfaction, the embodiment of success, but happiness is 
the gift of God and cannot be purchased with money. The 
man who dies in the midst of bank-books, unless his treasure 
and his heart are in Heaven, really dies poor, for he goes to 
the other world bankrupt, taking nothing with him, not even a 
hope. Men whisper, *' How much did he leave ?" One 
answers, " A. million." Another says, "He left two mill- 
ions." But God and angels answer more truly, " ife left all 
he had.^^ 

Wealth consecrated to the fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man is twice blest ; the poor rise up to call it 
blessed, and it has the blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich 
and addethno sorrow with it ; but gold without God, and bank- 
notes which have not beneath their rustle the throbbing of a 
Christian heart, are like a millstone hanged about the soul to 
smk it in the depths of despair. 

That man who walks with a merry song to his work in the 
morning with his dinner-pail in his hand, and walks back at 
night when his work is done with happy heart and an approv- 
ing conscience, has attained success more certainly than the 
man who rides in his carriase_to his bank and comes back 



130 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

again with a discontented heart and a reprovinpj conscience. 
He who loses his character in winning money has lost more 
than he has gained, and is therefore not a success. 

Another man steals an ofiice, or receives one that was stolen 
for him, trying to forget that the partaker is as bad as the 
thief. The robes of office cover his wrong, and people bow 
before his political power. They mistake Satanic smartness 
for success. Well said a prominent Englishman, who was 
travelling in our country, ''That word 'smart' will break 
America's back yet." It will, unless we break its back. The 
man who wins office by sacrificing honor is no more successful 
than Gehazi, who won money by the loss of health and truth. 

" The rank is but the guinea stamp, 
The man's a man for a' that." 

That man is not a success who gives the gold for the stamp. 

Nor is the achievement of great reputation in the world of 
art and literature a proof of success. I am reminded of snake- 
worship when I read of the attentions paid to such crawling 
things as Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde, who dip their pens 
in the sewers of vice and gild obscenity with rhythm. No 
degree of skill or fame can make such men a success. Their 
losses are more than their gains. 

How often fame is bought too dear, as in the case of the 
warrior who fights not for native land but for personal glory, 
as described by Richelieu : 

" From rank showers of blood 
And the red light of blazing roofs 
You build the rainbow, Glory, 
And to shuddering conscience cry, 
Lo ! the bridge to heaven ! " 

That reminds us of the other lines : 

" The drying of a single tear has more 
Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore." 

Parhassius, the painter, racking a slave to death in order 
that he may get a true model of death-agony for the picture 



COUNTERFEIT SUCCESS. 131 

which he expects will make him famous, is himself an abject 
slave to fame as h.e cries, 

"I'd rack thee though I knew a thousand lives were perishing in 
thine ; 
What were ten thousand to a fame like mine ?" 

Such fame is not success, but only a leprous Naaman covered 
with robes of distinction. No one is successful who wins fame 
by paying more than it is worth. Such an one is a loser, and 
therefore a failure. 

Those who are dazzled with the seeming success of godless 
men, who have wealth or office or literary eminence, would do 
well to listen to their wails over their bankruptcy of heart 
and soul, as found so abundantly in the pages of biography. 

David Hume, the infidel historian, in a work on " Human 
Nature," says : " I seem affrighted and confounded with the 
solitude in which I am placed by my philosophy. When I 
look abroad, on every side I see dispute, contradiction, and 
detraction. When I turn my eye inward, I find nothing but 
doubt and ignorance. Where am I ? From what cause do I 
derive my existence ? To what condition shall I return ? I 
am confounded with these questions. I begin to fancy myself 
in a most deplorable condition — environed with the deepest 
darkness on every side." 

Voltaire, another infidel who drank deeply from the cup of 
literary fame, said : " The world abounds with wonders, and 
also with victims. In man is more wretchedness than in all 
other animals put together. Man loves life, yet he knows he 
must die ; spends his existence in diffusing the miseries which 
he has suffered — cutting the throats of his fellow-creatures for 
pay, cheating and being cheated. The bulk of mankind are 
nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal, 
equally unfortunate. I wish I had never been born." 

Boswell gives us these dying messages of Dr. Johnson : 
" The approach of death is very dreadful. I am afraid to 
think of that which I know I cannot avoid. It is vain to look 



132 SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAY. 

round and round for that help which cannot be had. Yet we 
hope and fancy that he who has lived to-day may live to- 
morrow." 

The infidel Buckingham, in a letter to Barrow from his 
death-bed, did not talk like a successful man, although he had 
wealth and rank and fame : " The world and I may shake 
hands, for I dare affirm that we are heartily weary of each 
other. What a prodigal I have been of the most valuable of 
all possessions — time ! I have squandered it away with a per- 
suasion it was lasting, and now when a few days would be 
worth a hecatomb of worlds, I cannot flatter myself with a 
prospect of a half dozen hours." 

The accomplished Chesterfield, counting over his gains and 
losses in the darkness of approaching death, did not find him- 
self successful : " I have been under the powers and influences 
of all the pleasures of this world, and consequently know their 
futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them at their 
teal value, which, in truth, is very low. I look upon all that 
is past as one of those romantic dreams that opium commonly 
occasions, and I do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous 
dose for the sake of the fugitive dream. ' ' 

And who has not read the laments of the bankrupt heart of 
Byron, who, despite his rank and wealth and fame, was a 
failure : 

" Nay, for myself, so dark my fate 

Through every turn of life hath been, 
Man and the world so much I hate, 
I care not when I quit the scene. 

" My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flowers and fruit of love are gone — 
The worm, the canker, and the grief 
Are mine alone." 

Theodore Hook made all nations laugh while he was living, 
and yet on a certain day, when in the midst of his revelry he 
caught a glimpse of his own face and his own apparel in the 
mirror, he said, " That is true. I look just as I am — lost. 



COUNTERFEIT SUCCESS. 133 

body, mind, soul and estate — lost." And so it was with 
Shenstone. He sat down amid all the beauty of his garden 
and wrung his hands and said, *' I have lost my way to happi- 
ness ; I am frantic ; I hate everything ; I hate myself as a mad- 
man ought to." 

' Madame Maintenon, in a letter to a friend, writes as follows : 
'' Why cannot I give you my experience ? "Why cannot I 
make you sensible of that uneasiness which preys upon the 
great, and the difficulty they labor under to employ their 
time ? Do you not see that I am dying with melancholy, in 
the height of fortune which once my imagination could scarce 
have conceived ? I have been young and beautiful, have had a 
high relish of pleasures, and have been the universal object of 
love. In a more advanced age I spent years in intellectual 
pleasures. I have at least risen to favor, but I protest that 
every one of these conditions leaves in the mind a dismal 
vacuity. ' ' 

And the famous Lacordaire, of Paris, said, at last : *' I am 
feeble, discouraged — solitary in the midst of 800,000 men. I 
feel little attachment to existence ; my imagination has taken 
the color out of it. I am satiated of all, without having tasted 
anything. If you only knew how sad I am becoming ! I love 
Sorrow, and live much with her. They speak to me of literary 
fame and public employment. I have occasionally certain 
desires that way ; but, frankly, I despise fame, and can 
scarcely conceive why people should take so much trouble to 
run after such a little fool. Where is the soul that shall under- 
stand mine?^^ 

The trouble in all these sad cases was that mere wealth or 
office or fame were mistaken for success, and found at last 
to be counterfeits. Winning these at the cost of purity and 
faith, more was lost than gained. Real success was sacrificed 
to win its imitation. The dying moments of these famous 
people were thus filled with chagrin of having cheated them- 
selves by their bad bargains, paying faith for fame, religion for 
riches, honor for office. All these things are desirable as 



134 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

elements of power, but it is not success to buy them thus too 
dear. 

*' The world has nothing left to give, 
It has no new, no pure delight ; 
Oh, try the life which Christians live ; 

Thou wouldst be saved— why not to-night?" 

As men turn from idols to the living God, let us turn from 
these false images of success to true ones. 



The rich man's wealth is his strong city.— Solomon. 

The world is his who has money to go over it. — Emeeson. 
Season's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, 
Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence. — Pope. 

He that wants money, means, and content, is without three good 
friends. — Shakespeaee. 

The great satisfaction coming from wealth is a consciousness ©f 
power. Besides this, it opens up the way to a higher delight, meet- 
ing one's desires for education and art. The crowning joy of wealth 
is in the service of society and of mankind. " It is more blessed to 
give than to receive."— E. Hebeb Newton. 

The best wa¥ to settle the quarrel between capital and labor is by 
allopathic doses of Peter-Cooperism. — Talmage. 

They sbo'ult^ own who can administer ; not they who hoard and 
conceal. He is rich in whom the people are rich, and he is poor in 
whom the people are poor : and how to give all access to the master- 
pieces of art and nature is the problem of civilization. — Emeeson. 

The g^-eat privilege of possession is the right to bestow. — Geoege 
MacDonald. 

Bp charitable before wealth make thee covetous, and lose not the 
glory of the mite. If riches increase, let thy mind hold pace with 
them ; and think it not enough to be liberal, but munificent. Diffuse 
thy beneficence early and while thy treasures call thee master ; there 
may be an atropos of thy fortunes before that of thy life, and thy 
wealth be cut off before that hour when all men shall be poor. — Sib 
Thomas Beowne. 

" Thou hadst an industry in doing good, 
Eestless as his who sweats and toils for food." — Cowpee. 

I do not think that human nature lays one under a higher stress of 
temptation through riches than it does through poverty. I know 
that riches make men proud. Is there no pride among the poor ? I 
know that rich men are self-seeking and vain. Are poor people free 
''rom this ? I know that rich men may be envious of those in their 
company, and have ambition to exce] each other in mere outward 
display of riches and amassing the riches themselves. Is there no 
avaricious desire among the poor ? no discontent ? no coarse, envious 
squabbles ? I tell you it is not riches, and it is not poverty — it is 
human nature that lies back of both of them that is dangerous, and 
that is the trouble, — Henet Waed Beechee. 



XV. 

WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN SAY OF SUCCESS. 

What is success! 

Christ beautifully defines it in commending Mary of Beth- 
any : ^^She hath done what she could. ^^ Success is coming up 
to the level of our best. It is making the most of our abilities 
and opportunities. It is the best I am blossommg into the best 
I can do — the firstlings of the heart becoming the firstlings of 
the hand. 

To measure success by comparing ourselves among ourselves 
is not wise. The frog is not called to swell himself into an ox, 
nor to do the work of an ox. A preacher's success is not to 
be measured in comparison with other men of differing age and 
talents, but in comparison with his own capacity. We should 
ask. What is the level of my best, and how near do I come to 
it ? So, in every department of life, we are to ask, not, How 
does that man compare with the greatest man in his line ? but. 
How near does he come to making the most of himself and of 
his opportunities ? Each man should ask himself, How does 
what I am compare with what I might be ? 

Success is doing your best every day. One is not to excuse 
himself because he has but one talent. To double that is as 
surely success in the God's-eye view as for another, whose nat- 
ural abilities and opportunities are five times as good, to carry 
his talents up to ten. 

How few come up to the level of their best, and thus win true 
success ! " The land of promise," as deeded by God to Abra- 
ham and Moses, was three times as large as the land possessed 
by the Israelites in the days of Joshua. They did not by two 



138 SUCCESSFUL MElN' OF TO-DAY. 

thirds come up to the level of their best. So, what you might 
he is three times as large as what you are. In Solomon's day 
all the land of promise was possessed. In the " greater than 
Solomon" we see a man in whose life what was corresponded 
to what should be. In our lives, by His divine help, what is 
may at least closely approach what might he. 

When Francis Joseph Campbell, a blind man, becomes a dis- 
tinguished musician and mathematician and a great philanthro- 
pist, we get a hint of what it means to make the most of our 
capacities and opportunities. Many another blind person 
would be content to be a helpless object of charity for life. 
When he was complimented as " a very clever man," his noble 
wife replied, " No, he is not cleverer than other men. But 
the difference between him and all other people I know is this 
— he makes use of all his opportunities.'''' In most of our lives 
much of our possibilities is yet to be possessed. Leaving the 
sad '' it might have been," let us reach forward to what may he 
and lohat should he in our lives. If God calls you to preach, 
do your best. That is success, even if you are never heard of 
outside of a little country parish. If you are called as God's 
stewards to acquire money-power instead of mental power, to 
use for the good of humanity, do yoiir best in that. 

" Make all you can honestly ; 
Save all you can prudently ; 
Give all you can possibly."* 

"The good, like clouds, receive only to give away." 
" The riches of the good are like streams turned into a rice- 
field." 

If God has called you to make money, your success is not to 
be measured by the richest good man you know, but by your 
own opportunities. Doing your best is success. So, in public 
service, a good mayor is more successful than a bad President. 
Every officer who does his best is a success. The quiet mother 
who is never heard of outside of her home and Sunday-school 

* Mottoes of John Wesley. 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN SAY OF SUCCESS. 139 

class may be on God's list of successes, although everything in 
her realm seems to consist of trifles. " Little things are little 
things, but to do little things faithfully is a great thing. ' ' Only 
eternity can tell how true is the success, how far reaching the 
result of doing our besty even in the quietest spheres of life. 
Such successes will be inscribed on God's roll of honor if not 
on earth's scroll of fame. 

But how can this true success be obtained ? What are the 
secrets of success that mature and prominent men offer, from 
their own history and observation, to young men, to save them 
the necessity of learning them all in the hard school of experi- 
ence ? 

Dr. Dexter, chief editor of the Congregationalist, gives these 
three secrets of success : "^ First, piety, to get all and keep all 
in position ; second, patience, to master all details ; third, 
perseverance, to carry all through." 

Ex-Governor Dingley, of Maine, also gives three essential 
prerequisites to success : ** First, character ; second, industry ; 
third, perseverance." 

A prominent Brooklyn manufacturer gives these five condi- 
tions of success : First, sterling integrity as God's steward ; 
second, strict attention to business ; third, do what you under- 
take to do ; fourth, punctuality ; fifth, secrecy. (Don't tell 
anybody what you are going to do until you have done it — or 
even then)." 

The secrets of success as given by a successful New York 
publisher are : " Sterling integrity in all things ; rigorous 
adherence to every promise ; deal with every person as if you 
were certain you would meet him again, even though he is a 
passing stranger ; be temperate in body ; broaden your mind 
and become pure in heart." 

A Chicago editor gives the following helps to success : 
** Early to bed, early to rise ; plain food ; good conscience ; 
good humor ; honest work ; self-help ; and prayer." 

A leather dealer in California, whose firm has achieved a 
large success, attributes it to these five principles : ' ' First, per- 



140 SUCCESSFUL M^N OF TO-DAY. 

sonal integrity of its founders and managers ; second, prompt 
payment of all bills before noon of collection day ; third, the 
use of courtesy and tact in dealing with all men ; fourth, close 
attention to business and employment of the best agents ; fifth, 
constantly maintained reliability of goods." 

The manager of a large manufactory in Connecticut gives the 
following secrets of success : " An unbending purpose to suc- 
ceed ; strict integrity and conscientious fairness in all business 
relations ; firmness and affability ; systematic methods ; an 
underlying motive to please God." One of the leading whole- 
sale merchants of Chicago gives the secrets of success concisely 
as, " Self-reliance and moral responsibility to a higher power." 

John Wanamaker's answer gives four steps to success : 
*' Close application ; integrity ; attention to details ;* discreet 
advertising. ' ' (It has been well said that a little advertising, 
like a little learning, is a dangerous thing.) 

President Andrew D. White, of Cornell, also gives four 
conditions of success : " First, soundness of mind and heart ; 
second, clear judgment ; third, fair knowledge of men ; fourth, 
great devotion to some one purpose or study, but with breadth 
of view." 

Dr. J. H. Vincent's secret of success is given in a single 
sentence : " An entire surrender of impulse and inclination to 
the demands of duty, as expressed and made possible in the 
life of Christ." 

Hon. William E. Dodge, in a pamphlet of personal reminis- 
cences sent to me with his reply, names open, frank, upright 
dealing with customers as the way to secure their confidence 
and trade, and through that success. This theory he illustrates 
by the following incident : " I will venture to relate an inci- 
dent, as I think it may be of service to some who are looking 
forward to mercantile life. A few weeks after we started, and 
when our stock of goods was small, three young men stepped 
into the store, each having two large tin trunks which he 

* *' For want of a nail the shoe was lost ; for want of a shoe the 
horse was lost." 




EDUCATORS 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEl^ SAY OF SUCCESS. 143 

carried in his hands, aided by a large strap over the shoulders. 
I saw at once they were Connecticut peddlers, for I had often 
dealt with such when a clerk. They were attracted by some 
article in the window. After giving them its price, and while 
they set down their loads to rest and talk, I said pleasantly, ' I 
see you are, like myself, just starting in business. Now, let 
me make you a proposition : there is plenty of room in our 
store ; each of you take one of these pigeon-holes under the 
shelves, put your trunks there in place of carrying them around 
while you are picking up your goods, and just order all you 
buy to be sent here. We will take charge of your purchases, 
pack and ship them, and you can come here and examine your 
bills, WTite letters, and do as you like, whether you buy a dollar 
of us or not. I want to make at least a show of doing busi- 
ness, and it will really be an advantage to us as well as a con- 
venience to you.' They were pleased with the offer, and 
accepted it at once, and left in search of such things as they 
wanted. My young partner waited till they got out, and then, 
with considerable excitement and wounded pride, said, ' Well, 
are those what you call customers ? ' I said, * Yes, you know 
that tall oaks from little acorns grow. We shall see by and by 
what they will make. ' Suffice it to say, that for the six years 
I remained in the dry-goods business, they were among my 
most attached customers. ' ' 

A successful physician was asked by an unsuccessful one, who 
had been his equal as a classmate in college, to explain the 
difference in their practice. He replied, " Look out of my 
office window and notice the first twenty persons that pass on 
the street, and tell me how many of them you would like to 
have as patients. Would you want that man ? That woman ? 
There are only two in the twenty that are ' tony ' and ' styl- 
ish ' enough for you, with your ideas of a practice among ' nice 
people ' only, but I go for the other eighteen, for the people." 

Other secrets of success are the following : " Ambition to 
excel in whatever I undertake." (False- contentment is worse 
than poverty.) "A definite object in life — not drifting." 



144 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

" Habits favorable to bodily health." " Plain living and high 
thinking." "A good stomach." "Careful obedience to 
orders." "Early responsibility." (This last is given as one 
of his own helps to success by John Sherman, who at fifteen 
years of age was put in charge of an engineering enterprise in- 
volving an expense of $300,000.) " Strict truthfulness, with 
religion as its root." "Carefulness." "Honor." "Con- 
scientiousness." "Good company." "A good boarding- 
place and the society of modest Christian young women on 
coming to the city." " Reliability." " Courage, not only to 
say No, but to surmount obstacles." (" It takes a live fish to 
swim up stream.") " Mastering all the details of one's busi- 
ness." "Concentration of one's whole attention and ability 
on the matter in hand." (" He who follows two hares catches 
neither.") "Forecast." " Win unlimited credit, but use it 
in a very limited way." " Have several things ahead all the 
while as a stimulus to constant effort, and that you may rest by 
change of work." 

One man attributes his success to his promptness, to being 
always ten minutes ahead at his appointments. (How would 
that do for the business of religion also on a Sunday morning ?) 

Promptness in seizing opportunities is yet more important. 
" The art of getting rich," says Emerson, " consists not in in- 
dustry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, 
in being at the right spot. ' ' Carpe diem. 

Thirty years ago Mr. H., a nurseryman in New York State, 
left home for a day or two. It was rainy weather, and not the 
season for sales, but a customer arrived from a distance, tied 
up his horse, and found his way to the kitchen of the farm- 
house, where two of Mr. H.'s sons were cracking nuts. 

"Mr. II. athora3?" 

" No, sir," said the eldest, Joe, hammering at a nut. 

"When will he be back?" 

" Dunno, sir. Mebbe not for a week." 

The other boy, Jem, jumped up and followed the man out. 
" The men are not here, but I can show you the stock," he 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN" SAY OF SUCCESS. 145 

said, with such a bright, courteous manner that the stranger, 
who was a little irritated, stopped, and followed him through 
the nursery, examined the trees, and left his order. 

*' You have sold the largest bill that I have had for this sea- 
son, Jem," said his father, greatly pleased, on his return. 

" I'm sure," said Joe, sullenly, " I'm as willing to help as 
Jem, if I'd thought in time." 

A few years afterward these two boys were left by their 
father's failure and death with but two or three hundred doliais 
each. Joe with them bought an acre or two near home. The 
land was poor, the crops scanty, the market low\ He has 
worked hard and faithfully, but is still a poor, discontented 
man. Jem bought an emigrant's ticket to Colorado, hired as 
a cattle driver for a couple of years, with his wages bought land 
at forty cents an acre, built himself a house, and married. His 
herds of cattle are numbered by the thousand, his land has 
been cut up for town lots, and he is ranked as one of the 
wealthiest men in the State. 

The difference between these two brothers, and between the 
successful and unsuccessful generally, is the difference between 
seizing or missing opportunities. 

*' Jump while the wave is on the swell." " Now or never. " 
** No sooner said than done." *' There is a tide in the affairs 
of men that taken at the flood leads on to fortune." " Strike 
while the iron's hot." 

" He that would not when he may, 
When he would he shall have nay." 

That is true of religious decisions as well as in business. 
For every department of life we might appropriately adopt the 
motto which Ruskin has ever before him, inscribed on a masS' 
ive piece of chalcedony : 



To-Dat. 



146 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

Temperance is recognized in a large number of the replies 1 
have received, as an absolute prerequisite of abiding success. 
The most probable and scholarly theory of the origin of the 
precious minerals is that they were carried into the crevices in 
the rocks in solution by streams, and then deposited by elec- 
tricity passing through the water. So a cold-water career de- 
posits gold and silver, while a drinking life seldom leaves any 
gold. 

"In a certain manufacturing town an employer one Saturday 
paid to his workmen $700 in crisp new bills that had been 
secretly marked. On Monday $450 of those identical bills 
were deposited in the bank by the saloon-keepers. When the 
fact was made known, the workmen were so startled by it that 
they helped to make the place a no-license town. The times 
would not be so ' hard ' for the workmen if the saloons did 
not take in so much of their wages. If they would organize a 
strike against the saloons, they would find the result to be 
better than an increase of wages, and to include an increase of 
savings. ' ' 

" Sticktoitiveness" is often mentioned as one of the most 
essential conditions of success. " Good luck," says Emerson, 
" is only another name for tenacity of purpose." " Holdfast 
is a better dog than Brag." " Rome was not built in a day." 
*' Behold we count them happy that endure." A good begin- 
ning ^Zms a good continuance makes a good ending. 

Another essential to success in business as well as religion is 
self-denial. The man who would win must deny himself in 
morning naps, in pleasure trips, in needless luxuries. He who 
forgets himself in doing public service is the very man whom 
the public will not forget. " He that loseth his life shall find 
it." 

From these replies, and hundreds of others, we may tabu- 
late a decalogue, giving ten laws of success from the newest 
testament of God in modern history and experience. 

In order for a man to succeed — that is, to make the most of 
himself and his opportunities-— he should bind himself to un- 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN" SAY OF SUCCESS. 147 

flinching obedience to these true and proved laws of success : 
First, never misrepresent ; second, let your spoken word be as 
reliable as your written note or contract, but never take any- 
one's word for it in business matters except in black and white ; 
third, never pay a bill without taking a receipt in full ; fourth, 
treat a customer as a friend, and never allow him to be disap- 
pointed ; fifth, keep down expenses ; sixth, invest profits 
safely ; seventh, live within your income ; eighth, if hard run 
for money, let your wife know it. (There were invitations out 
for a splendid party on the very night Professor Webster killed 
his friend and burned him up for the sake of money) ; ninth, 
don't boast of your business. (Said a man one day to the elder 
Astor, " Why is it that you have made so much money, and I 
none, although I have been as temperate, as industrious, and as 
economical as you?" ''You talk too much,"* replied the 
millionaire) ; tenth, courage to say " No" or " Yes" at the 
right time, and to overcome obstacles. 

I would not for a moment have any one suppose that the 
same causes or rules will in different men produce the same 
effects, f I do not even believe that men can fully analyze and 

* " Do not hunt partridges with a band of music." 

" Speech is silver, and silence is golden. ' ' 

" Speak one word while you listen to a thousand." 

One newspaper recently said, " People who wonder why men's hair 
turns gray before their whiskers, should reflect that there is about 
twenty years' difference in their respective ages." Another paper 
adds, " But then, the fact that men exercise their jaws so much 
more than they do their brains, ought to make up that difference. 
So the question is still open." 

Eead also Prov. 12 : 23 ; 13 : 3 ; 14 : 23 ; 17 : 27 ; 18 : 7 ; James 
1 :19. 

f Judge Tourgee, author of " A Fool's Errand, by One of the 
Fools," in his reply to my circular, emphasizes some of the dangers 
connected with the study of success : 

" My deak Sir : I would be glad to answer the inclosed inquiries 
if I did not regard them as misleading, vague, and if published, 
harmful, especially to the young. These rules for success in life are 
like formularies for breaking the bank at faro. In my judgment very 



148 SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAT. 

describe the reasons for their own success. But out of the 
many facts and experiences of commercial life we can as surely 
deduce some laws of success as we can formulate laws of 
nature, such as gravitation, from the study of creation. It is 
at least as important to know the moving principles in the world 
of commerce as to know the modes of motion in the skies 
above us. 

The saddest certainty of all is that so many young men will 
refuse to learn by the painful experiences of their predecessors, 

few men know why they have succeeded, and if they did, the same 
causes would not bring success to others. Again your idea of suc- 
cess and mine might be different. Of those who have made great 
fortunes very few would admit that lying and cheating were the 
* chief elements ' of their success. Yet every lawyer knows it to be 
true. Take my own case. I think my success is due (such as it is) 
chiefly to a good stomach and an aptitude for folly. Yet you would 
not commend bull-headed, blind-eyed foolishness to your young 
inquirers for the short cut to the top of the hill. Again such statis- 
tics are mischievous because they are the wrong kind of data. What 
we call success is always exceptional. Usually in such cases, the 
men, the means and the opportunity are exceptional. Very rich men 
are simply monsters. So are great statesmen and generals and 
authors. We may trace their growth and find out some of its causes, 
but you cannot deduct therefrom the elements of a posset that shall 
make others to grow up like them. Again, I don't know your idea 
of what constitutes failure—' numerous failures.' If you mean busi- 
ness collapse I should say it generally resulted from carrying too big 
a load. From your use of the term ' professional ' I suppose you 
mean more, though I don't knew about a professional man failing if 
he works, keeps sober, and sleeps at home. Lawyers, ministers and 
doctors live on the sins of the people, and of course grow fat with 
reasonable exertion unless the competition is too great. It requires 
real genius to fail in either of these walks of life. But the failure 
itself is almost as often success as otherwise. Every man who makes 
a fortune has been more than once a bankrupt, if the truth were 
known. Grant's failure as a subaltern made him commander-in- 
chief, and for myself, my failure to accomplish what I set out to do 
led me to what 1 never had aspired to. Yours respectfully, 

*' A. W. TOUEGEE." 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEI^ SAY OF SUCCESS. 149 

and insist on working- out every sad lesson by their own dis- 
tress or defeat, as a child must burn his own fingers before he 
will believe what his father tells him about the stove. It isn't 
enough that your father has done wrong and " seen the folly 
of it." You want to see it for yourself. You want to " see 
the lions," forgetting that the Uons may come out to see you. 
But some will heed the sign-boards I am putting up to show, 
by the experience of our wisest men, the path of success. 

Let us not forget that we are called to success, not only in 
that department of our business which relates chiefly to this 
world, but also in that wholesale department of every man's 
business which relates to the soul and eternity. In this also we 
are successful if we do our best every day. That woman is 
successful in Christian work of whom Jesus can say, " She 
hath done what she could." That man is successful as a Chris- 
tian who comes up to the level of his best. 

When Nelson signalled from his flagship to every person in 
his fleet, " England expects every man to do his duty," it did 
not mean the same to all. To the captains it meant that they 
should do their best as commanders ; to the marines, that they 
should do their best at the g;uns ; to the sailors, that they should 
do their best in sailing the ships ; to the cabin-boys, that they 
should do their best as messengers. Every one succeeded who 
did what he could. Let not the Church of Christ be like Cole- 
ridge's phantom ship, with a dead man at the helm, dead men 
on the deck, dead men in the rigging ; but like Nelson's fleet, 
where every man does his best for the sake of his country and 
his God.* 

Over both departments of our business, the earthly and the 
heavenly, in each of which we are called to glorify God and do 
good to men, let us write, 

God expects every one to do his best. 
* Rom. 12 : 6-8. 



The men who gain riches, and really enjoy them, are the men that 
have to sweat for them. The industry'' that acquired them ; the 
patience that is required obtaining them ; the reserved self-control ; 
the measurings of values ; the sympathy felt for fellow-toilers ; the 
knowledge of what a dollar costs to the average man ; the memory 
of it — all these things are preservative ; but woe to the young man 
who hates farming, does not like sowing and reaping, is impatient 
with the dilatory and slow path to a small though secure fortune in 
the neighborhood where he was born, and comes to the city hoping 
to become suddenly rich, and thinking that he can break into the 
palace of wealth and rob it of its golden treasures ! — Henet Waed 
Beechek. 

The working-classes in the agricultural districts in France a^-e, as a 
rule, much more provident than the same class in England. Multi- 
tudes of our highly-paid workmen make not the slightest provision 
to meet a period of adversity. — Sir Thomas Brassey. 

One of the most painful things, to my mind, to be seen in England 
is this, that among the great body of those classes which earn their 
living by their daily labor, there is an absence of that hope which 
every man ought to have, if he be industrious and frugal, of a com- 
fortable independence as he advances in life. — John Bright. 

The habit of saving, so as to be beforehand with the world, if it is 
to be acquired at all, must be acquired early. — The Earl of Derby. 

National thrift means national prosperity.— Emily FAiTHPiTLii. 

The only sound and healthy description of assisting is that which 
teaches independence and self-exertion. — Gladstone. 

If principles of self-reliance and thrift were thoroughly observed 
by the working-classes, the prosperity of the country would be won- 
derfully increased. — The Earl of Shaftesbury. 

Economy is half the battle of life. — Spurgeon. 

The perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. The fool 
shall be servant to the wise of heart. The wicked are overthrown 
and are not ; but the house of the righteous shall stand. — Proverbs 
of Solomon. 

Prosperity is a more severe ordeal than adversity, especially sud- 
den prosperity. — P. T. Barnum. 

For one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that 
will stand adversity. — Caelyle. 



XVI. 

WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN SAY OF THE FAILURE 
OF OTHERS. 

Each parable of Christ is a kaleidoscope, picturing not one 
truth but many. This is especially the case with the parable 
of the prodigal. At first you behold in it a divine picture of 
the Heavenly Father's love for the penitent sinner. 

Turn the parable about and look at it in another way, and 
you see a picture of the two kinds of true conversion. Every 
one needs to be born of the Spirit, but there is diversity of 
operations. The younger son represents those who have sown 
their wild oats, and in reaping them have been led to bitter 
repentance, and then to the exciting joy of pardon. The elder 
son represents the greater number in the Church, who never 
wandered into immorality ; who cannot even remember the 
time when they did not pray ; who chose Jesus as their King 
and Saviour when he was first presented to them ; and though 
they have since transgressed God's law, like other Christians, 
they have never dethroned Christ in their hearts. To such the 
Father says, ' ' Son, thou art ever with me. ' ' To this class 
nearly all who are trained in Christian homes would belong, as 
did Jeremiah and John the Baptist and Samuel and Timothy, 
but for the strange, unbiblical tradition that one must be bad 
before he can be good, that he must be apprenticed to the devil 
and learn to sow wild oats before he can " bear precious seed " 
for God and humanity. The parable of the prodigal assures us 
that one need not wander at all from the Father's house, but 
may abide with him from the first. 

Turn the parable again, and get one of the views that is 



152 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

seldom noticed — its literal application to the failures and sue* 
cesses of young men. 

In this connection it will be appropriate to quote the replies 
that I have received from leading men of our country to the 
question, " What, in your observation, have been the chief 
causes of the numerous failures in life of business and profes' 
sional men ?" 

Governor St. John answers, ** Idleness, intemperance.'* 

Alexander H. Stephens answers, *' Want of punctuality, 
honesty, and truth." 

Hon. Darwin R. James, Brooklyn's Congressman, answers, 
" Incorrect views of the great end and aim of life. Men are 
not contented to live plam lives of integrity and uprightness. 
They want to get ahead too fast, and are led into temptation." 

President Bartlett, of Dartmouth College, names as causes of 
failure : " Lack of principle, of fixed purpose, of perseve- 
rance." President Eliot, of Harvard, replies, ^'Stupidity, 
laziness, rashness, and dishonesty." Dr. H. M. Dexter 
answers : 

" 1. Want of thoroughness of preparation. 

*' 2. Want of fixedness of purpose. 

"3. Want of faith in the inevitable triumph of right and 
truth." 

Anthony Comstock's answers are : *' Unholy living and dis« 
honest practices ; lust and intemperance ; living beyond one's 
means." 

The fullest answer to this question about failures, which is 
from a Brooklyn man of long experience in business life, is as 
follows : 

** I would name, first, a lack of special preparation on the 
part of young men for a special occupation or profession. 
Most boys get a fair general education, and when that is done 
take hold of the thing which promises the most immediate 
return for their labor, not stopping to look forward to the end 
or to consult their adaptability to the business or profession. 
Some look only to see what standing it will give them in 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN SAY OF FAILURE. 153 

society ; others consider if it will enable them to dress in fine 
clothing and make a good appearance. Next stands the mis- 
take of young men in being in too much of a hurry to spend 
money as fast as others, a desire to be considered in better 
circumstances than they really are, and a pressure to get ahead 
faster than they learn their business. In this way one often 
climbs a ladder before the foundation is made secure, and after- 
ward, when he has to take the responsibility, does not know all 
his business, and has to intrust a part of it to others, and does 
not know whether they are doing it right or not. By and by, 
when he thinks he is safe and beyond danger, the foundation 
corner which he trusted to some one else has given way and he 
is overthrown. He needs to know his whole business, so that 
he can tell when it is done right. Another great mistake is 
that when a young man sees his name on a sign he is apt to 
think that his fortune is made, and so begins to spend money 
as if he had already got beyond any chance of failure. An- 
other common mistake is that men, old as well as young, are 
too ready to use their credit, not realizing that the goods 
bought on credit are not theirs and that a pay-day is coming. 
When they find their notes coming due and have not the money 
to pay them, they are tempted to sell goods without a profit for 
the sake of getting the money or a note which they can turn 
into money. Just the moment a man is obliged to do that, he 
is not master of his own business, and as a rule it is only a 
matter of a little time when he will have to go down. Many 
are ruined by starting on too much expense, and then must do 
a large business to be able to cover expenses, and in order to do 
that they give credit to parties who are not worthy of it. Let 
a young man /ear God, he industrious, know his business, spend 
a little less than he earns, and success is sure." 

Mr. H. E, Simmons, manager of the American Tract Soci- 
ety, gives as the chief causes of failure in life : " Fast living, 
mental, spiritual and bodily ; lack of attention to the details 
of business." General O. 0. Howard answers, '^ Breaking 
the divine laws of the body by vice ; those of the mind by 



154 SUCCESSFUL MEI^ OF TO-DAY. 

overwork or idleness ; and those of the heart by making an 
idol of self. " (This tallies with the words of Emerson : ** Suc- 
cess consists in close appliance to the laws of the world.") 

Professor Homer B. Sprague, of Boston, answers : 

"1. Ill-hea]th. 

"2. Mistake in the choice of employment. 

'' 3. Lack of persistent and protracted effort. 

'^ 4. A low ideal, making success to consist in personal 
aggrandizement rather than in the training and development of 
a pure and noble character. ' ' 

Dr. Lyman Abbott answers, '^ The combined spirit of lazi- 
ness and self-conceit that makes a man unwilling to do any- 
thing unless he can choose just what he will do." A. W. 
Tenney, district attorney for Brooklyn, replies, " Outside of 
intemperance, failure to grasp and hold ; scattering too much ; 
want of integrity and promptness ; unwillingness to achieve 
success by earning it in the old-fashioned way. ' ' The attorney- 
general of a neighboring State replies, " Living beyond one's 
income, and speculating with borrowed funds. Unwillingness 
to begin at the foot of the ladder and work up. Young men 
want to be masters at the start, and assume to know before they 
have learned." Another answers, " Giving money-making a 
first place and right-doing a second place. ' ' 

Judge Tourgee, author of " A Fool's Errand," considers the 
most frequent cause of business collapse to be, "Trying to 
carry too big a load." As to others he says, " I don't know 
about a prof essional man's failing, if he works, keeps sober, and 
sleeps at home. Lawyers, ministers, and doctors live on the sins 
of the people, and of course grow fat under reasonable exertion, 
unless the competition is too great. It requires real genius to 
fail in either of these walks of life." Joseph Medill, ex-mayor 
of Chicago and former editor of the Chicago Tribune, names 
the following causes of failure : " Liquor-drinking, gambling, 
reckless speculation, dishonesty, tricky conduct, cheating, idle- 
ness, shirking hard work, frivolous reading, lack of manhood 
in the battle of life, failure to improve opportunities." That 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEK SAY OF FAILURE. 155 

list very nearly covers the case of the prodigal, into whose story 
I shall weave yet other answers. 

Look into his father's home that day when the restless young 
fellow attained his majority. There are two sons. The elder 
son is one of those naturally good boys who find it easy to do 
right. The younger son is one of the sort who find it much 
easier to do wrong. The elder son, if living to-day, would be 
content to take a farm in Kansas and earn his money slowly, 
surely, honestly, quietly. The younger one would push on to 
Colorado to made a sudden fortune in the excitement of min- 
ing, taking the risk of ruining his character by bad associates 
and haste to be rich. The younger son, having become of age, 
is unwilling to stay on the farm, where he is sure of a moderate 
competence. He wants more money, more excitement, more 
pleasures, and less of restraint and labor. 

* ' Father, give me the share of property that you intend to 
will to me, and let me go to the great city and make my for- 
tune." The father would fain detain him, but neither an 
earthly father nor the heavenly Father can save a man from the 
responsibility of his own free acts. 

The younger son gets his half of the property and turns it 
into money and clothes, and hurries away to his castles in 
Spain, where he expects to be wondrously rich and happy. 
This episode in the young man's life represents the unwise 
spirit of changefulness in business employments, by which much 
experience is lost and failure is brought to many lives. In the 
country on his father's farm, the prodigal would probably have 
succeeded in getting money and saving his morals. Hastening 
to the city before he was prepared in character for its tempta- 
tions, led to moral and financial bankruptcy. So the cobbler 
goes beyond his shoes and fails. He might have made a suc- 
cess on shoes, but he fails on sermons. He thought, or his 
parents thought, that he had a call to preach, but he " must 
have heard some other noise." 

" A chicken, trying to swim with some ducks, complained 
of th« world. ' The world is all right, ' replied the ducks, * if 



156 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

you adjust yourself to it. Keep in your element (the land), 
and not ours, which is satisfactory to us ' "—a parable for the 
warning of parents who crowd into the professions sons who 
ought to be mechanics. 

Rolling stones, in the shape of New England pilgrims, have 
gathered golden moss all over our land, but the proverb about 
rolling stones is nevertheless largely true. Those who hurry 
from bush to bush seeking better chances do not usually get the 
most berries. " Do not put your fingers into every hole/* 
" Unstable as Reuben, thou shalb not excel." Sticktoitiveness 
wins more than changefulness. " Look before you leap." 
*' Be sure you are right, and then go ahead." He that waver- 
eth. let not that man think that he shall receive anything of 
the Lord or of men. Among the causes of failure given by 
my correspondents, many may be classified under the general 
fault of wavering, such as " Lack of determined purpose," 
"Wavering purposes," " Nonsticktoitiveness," "Failure to 
grasp and hold," " Scattering too much," " Trying to do too 
many things, rather than sticking to the one thing one knows 
most about." 

A young man spends seven years in a grocery, and when he 
has just learned the business he concludes to go into dry 
goods. By failing to choose that first, he has thrown away 
seven years' experience. Probably after learning the dry-goods 
business he will conclude to become a watchmaker, and so at 
last become a jack-at-all-trades, good at none. A prominent 
merchant says, " Nearly all failures in legitimate business 
come from not serving an apprenticeship to it" — that is, from 
leaving a business that one knows for another which he does 
not understand. 

In the prodigal's departure from his country home we see 
also the common disposition to escape hard work and get rich 
in haste — " desiring the success another man has, without 
being willing to work as that man does," and begin, as he 
did, at the foot of the ladder. The prodigal did not like 
manual work any better^ than American boys of to-day, who 



WHAT SUCCESSFUL MEN SAY OF FAILURE. 157 

take six dollars a week for measuring tape when they might 
have twenty-five as mechanics. The prodigal wanted a short 
cut to wealth and an easy path. He was " unwilling to achieve 
success by earning it in the old-fashioned way, by hard work." 
How many who were thus in haste to be rich, " to reap with- 
out patient industry in sowing," have learned the truth of the 
old proverb, " The more haste, the worse speed !" 

" Great greediness to reap 
Helps not the money heap." 

The prodigal failed partly because he started out with '' a 
low and selfish idea of success," with " false views of the great 
end and aim of life, as pleasure, show, money." 

A leading manufacturer in Philadelphia, who has lived fifty- 
two years in that city, says, " I never knew a business man 
among all those whose lives are failures, who gave his heart to 
God Iq his youth. ' ' 



"While we are not to denounce riches, while we are at liberty to 
seek them as normal, falling in with the providence of God, and run- 
ning in the line of grace itself when rightly used, we are to beware 
of using them for anything except love — love to our household and 
love to our fellow-men. We are to hold them as a power put into our 
hands as power is put into the hands of a Christian sovereign, no^ 
that the throne may be a centre and seat of selfishness, but that they 
may be employed for distribution, and for the comfort and protec- 
tion of the whole people. Riches acquired and held for selfish pur- 
poses suffocate men. They kill our best instincts. They put them 
on false views. They disjoin them from the proper sympathy of 
man with man. They are mischievous, deadly. But riches in the 
hands of true benevolence exalt men. How must a rectified spirit in 
heaven rejoice to look down on that which upon earth he honestly 
earned and invested for charity and beneficence, and to see it work- 
ing for mankind, age after age, and generation after generation ! No 
man's riches are subject of envy where he uses them properly. If a 
man's life is devoted to doing good ; if on whichever side men touch 
him he throws upon them his sympathy, and manifests toward them 
an eager desire for their welfare, nobody wants him to be less rich. 
There be multitudes of men that have renowned wealth whose fail- 
ure, if they were to stumble and fall to-morrow, legions of men would 
rejoice over, saying, " Served him right ! Served him right !" But 
there are some rich men whose loss, when they depart, all men 
lament. — Henky Waed Beechek. 

Each soul is worth so much on 'change, 
And marked like sheep with figures. — Mes. Beowning. 
How many rich dwellings there are, crowded with every appoint- 
ment of luxury, that are only glittering caverns of selfishness and dis- 
content ! " Better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox 
and hatred therewith. ' ' — Chapin. 

For aught I see- they are as sick that surfeit with too much as they 
that starve with nothing. — Shakespeaee. 

Honor and wealth are illusory : come, 
Happiness dwells in the temple of home. — Schellee. 
Not the wealthy, but the bonnie. — Buens. 
What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily. — Shakespeabs. 



XYII. 

*'POOR IN ABUNDANCE." 

The prodigal at first seemed to be successful. For a young 
man he was counted rich. He was at once received into " the 
best society" of the city to which he had gone. In his own 
home he entertained with the rarest of wines and the choicest 
of viands. At this period he represents the poor rich. " Poor 
in abundance, famished at a feast."* Ill-gotten wealth only 
counterfeits success, for bankruptcy of honor is worst of fail- 
ures. " A poor man is better than a liar." f " Never value 
anything as profitable to thyself," said Marcus Aurelius, " which 
shall compel thee to lose thy self-respect." 

What matters it to have much on earth and little in heaven ? 
Money does not answer all things. Hear the godless rich man, 
when in health, saying to his minister, " I have thought about 
religion, and I have come to the conclusion that I have no need 
of Christ." Hear that same man, dying and leaving all he 
has, exclaim, " Who will carry me over the river ?" Reach- 
ing the river of death, he has nothing to pay his ferriage. 

Time is money, but money is not time. All her gold could 
not purchase for the dying queen " a moment of time." Time 
destroyed in selfishness and sin is suicide where more than 
blood is spilt. 

" How is your old classmate, F., doing ?" 

" Not very well, I'm sorry to say." 

* Young's "Night Thoughts." 

t Prov. 13 : 7 ; 15 : 16, 17 ; 16 : 8 ; 17 . 1 ; 28 : 6 ; Eccl. 4:6; 
Psa. 37 : 16 ; Phil. 4 : 11-13. 



160 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

*' Why, I thought I heard he was at about the top of the 
profession. ' ' 

''So he is." 

" And growing rich fast." 

"Yes, that is true." 

" Well, what do you mean, then ?" 

" I mean that he is Turning down hill every day — is almost 
at the bottom ; and the prospect is darker the longer he lives. 
He seemed to be a noble fellow in college, with something of 
almost Christian principle in him. But he has sagged away 
into a mean ambition, grown harder and colder with every 
year, is getting more tightly hide-bound in his selfishness, 
and, for aught I see, is already virtually a lost man." 

" This is a new way you have of looking at men like him." 

'* Perhaps so ; but possibly we may find, by and by, that 
other eyes up yonder see him in about the same light." 

When a man fills his pocket to the neglect of his mind and 
soul, his wealth becomes the silver bridle of an ass. 

That rich man is a failure who is " living the life of the flesh, 
whether m low, sensual gratification, or that which is refined, 
aesthetic, and selfish." Alas that there are still in the world, as 
in the time when Christ spoke his parables, rich fools, whose 
lives are so sensual and selfish that they really do not know 
what else to do with wealth than to use it for bodily enjoy- 
ment. All that it says to them is, " Eat, drink, and be 
merry." God calls such a man a " fool " for caring more for 
his store than his soul. A twenty-thousand-dollar picture or 
charity has no charms for such, but they delight in a twenty- 
thousand-dollar spree. There are many such men in our min- 
ing States* and some in New York — animals loaded with ingots. 

Every rich man whose money is not clean is a failure, 
whether found out or not. " Those eighteen upon whom the 
tower of Siloam fell and killed them, think you that they were 
offenders above all the men that dwell at Jerusalem ?" Those 
rehypothecators of trust funds for private speculations who are 
now in jail, or in exile as fugitives from justice, think you they 



*'POOE IJT ABUKDANCE." 161 

are offenders above all the men that, as bank presidents and 
public treasurers and trustees, make millions of dollars a year 
out of a salary of eight or ten thousand ? I tell you, Nay. 

How significant in these days is that verse of the Bible which 
literally means, " I know whom I have made my Trustee, and 
am persuaded that he will keep what I have committed to him 
against that day !" 

How " many kinds of evil '' have been rooted in " the love 
of money" in all comitries and in all centuries ! By covetous- 
ness more than by perverted conscience the persecutions of the 
Jews have been caused in all ages. It is Judas who cries out 
against "■ Christ-killers," that he may get their confiscated 
gold. Greed in American whalemen, aided by lust, has 
almost depopulated the Sandwich Islands — Christianity coming 
too late to do more than delay the result. Greed in the Portu- 
guese traders, aided by Romanism, caused the banishment of 
Christianity for two centuries from Japan. Greed in English 
merchants carried the opium curse into China. Greed's in- 
justice and trickery have provoked most of our Indian wars. 
Greed has corrupted our national politics. Greed is the insti- 
gator of the most destructive diseases of America to-day — those 
that come from penurious plumbing ! 

What is the meaning of the new laws on this latter subject ? 
They mean that many a contractor has built death-traps, and 
many a landlord has rented them, rather than spend a few dol- 
lars more in proper plumbing. Money thus saved is foul with 
the slaughter of the innocents. What is the advantage of your 
grand mirrors if you see a miser or a murderer every time you 
look into them ? 

" Mr. A. has just died worth ten millions. When he meets 
God he will have two hard questions to answer : First, How 
did you get that money ? second. What did you do with it ?" 

That man is a failure who has gained wealth by the sacrifice 
of greater things. It is not success to give two millions for 
one, nor to exchange character for cash. That man has done 
this who has acquired wealth to be his good servant and then 



162 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

has allowed it to become his despotic master. Freedom is 
better than gold. That man has made a bad bargain, giving 
the greater for the less, who has allowed " money-making the 
first place and right-doing only the second place in his 
heart." 

Millions of young men in our land are ambitious to be mill- 
ionaires. Let them consider well what that ambition is likely 
to cost. Some years ago the following suggestions were made 
in The Radical to candidates for the rank of millionaire ; 

'^Assuming that you do not propose to yourself to be a 
member of a society ' where all the men arc brave and all the 
women virtuous,' but that you do propose to yourself to belong 
to one where ' every man is a millionaire,' you will see from 
what I have written below what is necessary : 

" You must be a very able man, as nearly all millionaires are. 

'' You must devote your life to the getting and keeping of 
other men's earnings. 

" You must eat the bread of carefulness, and you must rise 
early and lie down late. 

" You must care little or nothing about other men's wants or 
sufferings or disappointments. 

" You must not mind it, that your great wealth involves 
many others' poverty. 

'' You must not give away money except for a material 
equivalent. 

" You must not go maundering about nature, nor spend your 
time enjoying air, earth, sky, and water ; for there is no money 
in it. 

" You must not distract your thoughts from the great pur- 
pose of your life with the charms of art and literature. 

" You must not let philosophy or religion engross you dur- 
mg the secular time. 

" You must not allow your wife or children to occupy much 
of your valuable time or thoughts. 

" You must never permit the fascinations of friendship to 
inveigle you into making loans, however small. 



''POOR IN ABUlsTDAI^CE." 163 

*' You must abandon all other ambitions or purposes ; and^ 
finally — 

'^ You must be prepared to sacrifice ease and all fanciful 
notions you may have about tastes and luxuries and enjoyments, 
during most, if not all, of your natural life. 

'* If you think the game is worth the candle, you can die 
rich — some of you can. But here comes in an unfortunate 
fact, which, if disagreeable, must be ascribed to Omnipotence, 
not to me. It is this : The surplus yearly production of all 
these United States amounts to but one thousand millions. It 
is clear, then, that only one thousand of our people can by any 
possibility grasp a million a year." 

If one can get a million only in that way, he gives more than 
he gets. It costs more than it comes to. That man is a fail- 
ure who sacrifices a two-million palace of manhood for a one- 
million prison of covetousness, even though it has golden locks. 

It is the aside remarks that let in light upon men's charac- 
ters. A worldly-minded Sunday-school superintendent, being 
about to go to Europe on business, addressed the school on the 
Sunday before his departure. He waxed fervent as he depicted 
the horrors of the sea voyage, the risk of life, the separation 
from friends and home, and the possibility that he would never 
see them again. " Oh, children," said he, " it is dreadful to 
think of. Nothing but money would induce me to do it." 

Lest any one should think such selfishness monopolized by 
the rich, let me give the twin of that " money" story from the 
annals of the poor : 

" Oh, Kitty, look here ! The Grey friars' Church is on fire !" 

** Is that a', miss ? "What a friclit ye geed me ! I thought 
ye said the parlor fire was out. ' ' 

I reckon that man among the failures who forgets that he 
controls property onl^ as a trustee for humanity. No one 
should count aught of the things that he possesses as his own, 
except his sins. Each man of property is God's trustee to dis- 
pense what he has to every man as he has need. Hear Job 
rendering the report of his trust eeshi p : ** I delivered the pool 



164 SUCCESSFUL MEIS" OF TO-DAY. 

that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help 
him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." * 
Joaquin Miller says of such a philanthropist : f 

*' I reckon him greater than any man 
That ever drew sword in war ; 
I reckon him nobler than king or khan. 
Braver and better by far. 

** And wisest he in this whole wide land 
Of hoarding till bent and gray ; 
For all you can hold in your cold dead hand 
Is what you have given away. " 

** Whoso hath the world's goods and beholdeth his brother 
in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth 
the love of God abide in him ?" Charity was solicited from a 
rich man as a loan to the Lord. He replied, *' The security, 
no doubt, is good, and the interest liberal ; but I cannot give 
such long credit." Within two weeks he heard the summons, 
*' Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be required of thee." 

The rich man's charity, in many cases, needs to begin at 
home, in giving living wages to his employes. J Let a railroad 
king pay his workmen enough to live on before he shows oft 
his generosity in the transportation of obelisks from land to 
land. New York merchants who subscribe hundreds of dollars 
for districts devastated by fire or famine or cyclone might well 
turn their attention to their own half -starved, ill -clad seam- 
stresses, who are paid (according to the Examiner and Chron- 
icle) thirty-five cents for making the best and heaviest of over- 
coats, twenty-eight cents for handsome spring overcoats, six 
k> ten cents a pair for pants, seventy-five cents a dozen for 

* Job 29 : 12, 13. See also Lev. 35 : 35 ; Dent. 15 : 7, 8, 10 ; 
24 : 6 ; Ps. 41 : 1 ; Prov. 3 : 27 ; 14 : 31 ; 17 : 5 ; 25 : 1 ; 29 : 7. 
f Peter Cooper. 
X Prov. 14 : 21, 31 ; 22 : 22. 



** POOR IIS" ABUKDAiTCE.*' 165 

calico wrappers, and about a dollar and a half for complete 
suits for ladies ; while cash-girls get from seventj-five cents to 
a dollar and a half per week, and " must come neatly dressed." 
In a cogent sermon,Dr. Lorimer indignantly said that "there 
are employers who, by fines and other tortuosities of trade, rob 
shop-girls of what they have really earned. They have no 
appeal. Law is too expensive a luxury for them. To such a 
height had this systematic plundet'ing of poor shop-girls grown 
in New York, several years ago, that a protection society was 
formed hy some benevolent people, and in the first year of its ex- 
istence $!5000 was restored to the victims of avarice. Since then 
it has proved an inestimable blessing to these defenseless ones. 
It is also well known that in some pursuits, and in some where 
the girls a>re expected to dress well, their wages are totally inade- 
quate to the necessities of life. If they live decently at all, 
means must come from other sources." 

What is that but refined cannibalism, the strong devouring 
the weak, killing them by inches ? There are millionaires who 
are only Robin Hoods in disguise, believing 

" That they should take who have the power. 
And they should keep who can," 

The prodigal seems at first sight to have the virtue or gen- 
erosity, whatever else he may lack, but he is really first cousin 
to the miser. Both use their money for selfish gratification. 
The miser's selfishness is less harmful than the prodigal's, for 
it destroys no one but himself. 

Real generosity would not have impoverished, but rather 
snriched the prodigal.* " He that giveth to the poor lendeth 
unto the Lord, and He will pay him again.'''' 

A Christian young man married on $300 a year, and lived 
economically in one room. During that year he subscribed 
$300 toward building a church. His penurious father shook 
his head disapprovingly, but the son said that he could and 

* Prov. 3 : 9, 10 ; 11 : 25 ; 14 : 21 ; 22 : 9 ; Isa. 32 : 8 ; 58 : 10, 11. 



166 SUCCESSFUL MEI^ OF TO-DAY. 

sfionld pay it, not in one year, of course, but in time, by rigid 
economy. The next year bis wages were doubled, and by liv- 
ing on the same scale as before he paid his subscription in one 
year. His conscientious fidelity was soon heard of, and he got 
$1500 salary, and at length $4000, but kept on giving as gen- 
erously as at first. 

This is not an exception, but a specimen. True generosity is 
one of the secrets of financial success. ' ' The liberal soul shall 
be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also him- 
self. " "He that saveth his life shall lose it. ' ' Unconsciously 
a leading Chicago merchant echoes that Bible verse by giving 
as one of the chief causes of business failures, " The willing- 
ness to sacrifice everything for self." Get, save, give. 

The prodigal also illustrates the fact that success is one of the 
frequent causes of ultimate failure. All are familiar with the 
frequent ruin wrought by inherited wealth. " Easy come, easy 
go." A young German in Pennsylvania went through a for- 
tune of $26,000 in five months. Most of those who die rich 
were born poor, and most of those who were born rich do not 
die rich. " Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished ; 
but he that gathereth by labor shall increase." " The invari- 
able condition of safety for riches," says Mr. Beecher, " is 
that you shall have earned them by an equivalent, and by such 
patience as involves discipline and education." 

Acquired wealth also turns all except strong heads and hearts. 
" Success is often a cause of failure," says a prominent 
Brooklyn merchant. You can find a hundred men who can 
stand up manfully under adversity to one that can bear pros- 
perity and resist its destroying extravagances and its tempta- 
tions to neglect business. * ^ The prosperity of fools shall de- 
stroy them. " * " His plenty made him poor. " " The bun- 
dle was pressed hard, but the knot was left loose." The lamp 
was well lighted, but was not kept filled. The field was care- 
fully watched until the harvest, and then left to the jackals, 

* Eead also Ps. 49 : 10-13. 



''POOR IN- ABUNDAKCE." 167 

*' However easy it may be found to make money, '^ says P. 
T. Barnum, "it is the most difficult thing in the world to 
keep it." Fortune often leads to folly. Only eagles' eyes 
can bear the full blaze of the sun unharmed. Money often 
makes the mare — run away with you. 

Nothing succeeds like success, and nothing fails like it. 
John Tobin, ex-president of the Hudson River Railroad, and 
at one time a power in Wall Street, was arrested recently near 
the Staten Island Ferry for drunkenness. Formerly a million- 
aire and a man whose operations set the Stock Exchange in an 
uproar and influenced speculation all over the country, he has 
become an utter wreck physically as well as financially. In the 
days of his prosperity his speculative schemes were on the scale 
of those of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew, and he dealt 
in shares by the hundred thousand. Now he is little better 
than a beggar, and the police say that he is rarely seen sober. 
The prodigal story over again — a full purse, a full glass, failure. 
It is well said by one of our college presidents, in naming ele- 
ments of success, that " a man should act on the principle that 
devotion and application to duty are as essential after success is 
secured as before.'''' 



XYIII. 

HOW TO FAIL. 

Take this for your motto at the commencement of your Journey, 
that the difference of going just right or a little wrong will be the differ- 
ence of finding yourself in good quarters or in a miserable bog or 
slough at the end of it. —Amos Laweence. 

I never was canny for hoarding o' money, 

Or claughtint together at a', man ; 
I've little to spend, and naething to lend, 
But deevil a shilling I awe, man. — Buens, 

The beginning of the prodigal's ruin was bad company, one 
of the most frequent roots of failure to-day. " He that fol- 
io weth vain persons shall have poverty enough." * " First 
harlots, then husks." f 

One needs to exercise great care, first of all, in making up 
his business " company," that he may secure honest, efficient, 
congenial partners. " An owl and an eagle, starting on a 
hunting expedition, the owl wanted to hunt by night and the 
eagle by day. They concluded, at last, that by separating they 
could cover both day and night, and both hunt better." | 

It is quite as important that a man have the right kind of 
company outside of business hours. It is written of the im- 
prisoned apostles, " Being let go, they went unto their own 
company." When a man is " let go" from business, he always 
goes to " his own company." You can tell what kind of a 
man he is by the company he keeps in his free hours. Every 
Judas " goes to his own pl.ace," even in this world. 

* Bead also Prov. 23 : 20, 21 ; 12 : 11 ; 13 : 20 ; 28 : 19. 
t Pro^. 6 : 26, 27 ; 13 : 2b ; 7 : 22, etc.; 9 : 18 ; 23 : 34. 
t Austin Bierbrowei'» 



HOW TO FAIL. 169 

A man is not merely revealed by the company he keeps. 
He is made more and more like it. " Who lies down with 
dogs rises with fleas." They forget this who allow innocent 
boys and girls to work in our prison -shops side by side with 
the convicts. Law should say to Greed, ' ' Thou shalt not. ' ' 

Strange that rich young men do not see more clearly the 
purpose of the flattering rascals who spaniel them at heels. 
'' Dogs wag their tails not so much in love of you as of your 
bread."* 

The prodigal's ruin was of course hastened by i^umbling, for 
who ever became a victim of wine and women and not of 
gambling also ? The record of nearly all gamblers and specu- 
lators since the world began may be put in four words : Every- 
thing ventured, nothing had. Treasures of wickedness profit 
— 0, in a very literal sense in most cases, and in a spiritual sense 
always. How many firms that have been doing a good busi- 
ness have suddenly and surprisingly collapsed ! Why ? Every- 
body knows before the particulars are given that some of the 
firm have been secretly gambling in stocks. 

" One of the firms involved by the failure of Follett, the 
note-broker, is reported to have been clearing a hundred thou- 
sand dollars a year on stoves and heaters, but it appears that 
notes to twice this amount had been put into the broker's 
hands to cover some operations of one of the firm in the grain 
market. A man has a right to do what he will with his own, 
but the tendency to miscellaneous speculation akin to gambling 
is so general among Americans that sooner or later all business 
men should exact of their customers a pledge that none of the 
capital claimed in statements made for the purpose of obtaining 
credit shall be diverted from the business, either directly or by 
loan, to any member of the firm, for use in outside operations. 
Such pledges would sometimes be broken, but not without per- 
manent disgrace to the business reputation of those making 
them."t 

* Prov. 14 : 20 ; 19 : 4, 6. f New York Herald. 



I'J'O SUCCESSFUL MEK OF TO-DAY. 

Bad habits of other sorts co-operate with gambling in accom- 
plishing a man's failure. Almost every reply to the question 
about causes of failure gives '' bad habits" a leading part. On 
those who catch " larks" the sky falls. 

" Would you like to know how I was enabled to serve my 
country ?" said Admiral Farragut on one occasion. " It was 
all owing to a resolution I formed when I was ten years of age. 
My father was sent down to New Orleans, with the little navy 
we then had, to look after the treason of Burr. I accompanied 
him as cabin-boy. I had some qualities that I thought made a 
man of me. I could swear like an old salt, could drink a stiff 
glass of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke 
like a locomotive. I was great at cards, and fond of gaming 
in every shape. At the close of the dinner one day, my father 
turned everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to 
me : 

" ' David, what do you intend to be ? ' 

'' ' I mean to follow the sea.' 

" ' Follow the sea ! Yes, be a poor, miserable, drunken 
sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and 
die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime. ' 

" ' No,' I said, ' I'll tread the quarter-deck and command, 
as you do. ' 

*' ' No, David, no boy ever trod the quarter-deck with such 
principles as you have, and such habits as you exhibit. You'll 
have to change your whole coarse of life, if you become a 
man.' 

" My father left me and went on deck. I was stung by the 
rebuke and overwhelmed with mortification. ' A poor, miser- 
able, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed about 
the world, and to die in some fever hospital ! ' That's my 
fate, is it ? I'll change my life, and change it now. I will 
never utter another oath ; I will never drink another drop of 
intoxicating liquors ; I will never gamble. And, as God is my 
witness, I have kept those vows to this hour." 

Side by side with Farragut' s greatest victory — over himself 



HOW TO FAIL. 171 

— wbich led to his other triumphs, glance at the wreck of the 
great pianist and composer, Alfred H. Pease, who was unex- 
celled in his department, and yet died of intemperance in St. 
Louis, where he had been concealing himself and living in a 
continual drunken debauch for a long time. Alas that even 
such a red light of awful warning as that will deter only a few 
young men from taking the same route to ruin ! Only along 
the track whose rails are God's laws for the body and mind, 
can any one ride to success. 

One day, about five o'clock, Mr. IJ. B. Claflin was sitting 
alone in his private office, when a young man, pale and care- 
worn, timidly knocked and entered. 

"Mr. Claflin," said he, "I am in need of help. I have 
been unable to meet certain payments because certain parties 
have not done as they agreed by me, and I would like to have 
ten thousand dollars. I come to you because you were a 
friend to my father, and I thought you might be a friend to 
me." 

" Come in," said Claflin ; " come in and have a glass of 
wine." 

" No," said the young man ; " I don't drink." 

" Have a cigar, then ?" 

" No ; I never smoke." 

" Well," said the joker, " I would like to accommodate 
you, but I don't think I can." 

" Very well," said the young man, as he was about to leave 
the room ; " I thought perhaps you might. Good-day, sir." 

" Hold on," said Mr. Claflin. " You don't drink ?" 

*' No." 

" Nor smoke ?" 

*'No." 

" Nor gamble, nor anything of the kind ?" 

" No, sir ; 1 am supeiintendent of the Sunday-school." 

" Well," said Mr. Claflin, with tears in his eyes, too, " you 
shall have it, and three times the amount if you wish. Your 
father let me have five thousand dollars once, and asked me the 



173 SUCCESSFUL MEN- OF TO-DAY. 

same questions. He trusted me, and I will trust you. No 
tbanks. I owe you for your father's trust." 

Bad habits interfere with success by weakening and shorten- 
ing life, and also because they lead to crime rather than indus- 
try. " Can one go on hot coals and his feet not be burned ?" * 
Of 1518 prisoners in Sing Sing in 1880, only 269 claimed to be 
total abstainers, and only 150 did not use tobacco. 

It is a great wrong that the State allows even its youngest 
prisoners a paper and plug of tobacco per week, and thus be- 
comes itself a teacher of bad habits. That which killed Del- 
monico and Hill and Carpenter is given by the State to its 
prisoners. 

The Sing Sing prison report for 1880 shows that beer ranks 
only second to whiskey as a recruiting officer of crime, for the 
prison contained 115 Germans and 138 Irishmen. Bad habits 
impede success also by their expensiveness. " He that loveth 
wine and oil shall not be rich." A Chicago clerk, complaining 
of his small salary ($60 per month), declared that he was not 
able to live and dress decently upon that sum. That same 
evening he invited three men to drink with him at the bar of a 
prominent hotel, where he paid sixty cents for whiskey without 
a moment's hesitation or a word of complaint. 

That young man had learned the secret of becoming a 
nobody. "It is easy to be nobody, and we will tell you how 
to do it. Go to the drinking saloon to spend your leisure 
time. You need not drink much now : just a little beer or 
some other drink. In the mean time play dominoes, checkers, 
or something else to kill time, so that you will be sure not to 
read any useful books. If you read anything, let it be the 
dime novel of the day. Thus go on, keeping your stomach full 
and your head empty, and yourself playing time-killing games, 
and in a few years you'll be nobody, unless you should turn 
out a drunkard or a professional gambler, either of which is 
worse than nobody." 

* Kead Prov. 8 : 35, 36 ; 13 : 14. 



HOW TO FAIL. 173 

The bad habit of unpunctuality is almost a vice, and alto- 
gether a millstone on one's business prospects. Better late 
than never, but best of all to be never late ; worst of all to be 
always behind. 

Dishonesty is only second to dissipation among causes of 
failure. Want of character leads to want of cash and cus- 
tomers. A greenbacker declares, in speaking of failures, that 
the nation needs a change of pecuniary diet. What we really 
need is to make a wise and honest use of the money that we 
have. 

Among the mice that nibble away success are '^' little tricks 
of trade," '* dishonesty in little things," "untruthfulness." 
" To lie is to jump from a house-top." What blindness to 
save a dollar and lose a customer. There was pathos in the 
Scotchman's word to his son, " Honesty is the best policy ; 
I hae tried baith. ' ' Honesty is the only policy, or as the thief 
said, after years of eating the ashen apples of dishonesty, 
'* God Almighty has fixed things in this world so that it pays 
to do right. ' ' Let us prevent rather than repent. 

It is as natural to go by degrees from the " tricks of trade" 
to the frauds of trade, as from childhood to manhood. The 
Christian man whose conscience surrenders to the common 
deceptions is on the straight road to uncommon rascalities. 
*' Tricks of trade" are the seed of which frauds are the fruit. 
** Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" 

Of course debt helped the prodigal out of his palace into the 
swine pasture. He lacked courage to say " No" when a 
drinking friend wanted him to endorse a note for a larger 
amount than he was able to lose. He remembered but dis- 
regarded God's warning, ^'' He that hateth suretyship is sure. " * 
*' He'll soon be a beggar that canna say Na." " The borrower 
is servant to the lender. ' ' 

When his income decreased his style did not. He was 
stranded by seeking to be a big fish still after his ocean had 

* Eead Prov. 6 : 1-5 ; 11 : 15 ; 22 : 22, 28. 



174 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

shrunk to a pond. He bought on the security of future Lopes, 
his assets being unhatched chickens and castles in Spain. It 
is wise sometimes to have a debt, a mortgaged home, for 
instance, as an incentive for saving, but as a rule it is better to 
go supperless to bed than to rise in debt. " He that goes a 
borrowing goes a sorrowing." There is at least a grain of 
wholesome warning in the cruel proverb, " He who lends 
money to a friend loses both." 

At any rate it is a good rule, Never indorse a note for more 
than you can afford to lose. Always hope for the best, but be 
ready for the worst. A wise young man will refuse to let his 
parents or employers set him up in business and in debt. He 
will learn the value of money by earning it and avoid "the 
rock of excessive credit," on which, says Amos Lawrence, '* so 
many business men are broken." 

While debt was hurrying the prodigal out of his fine home, 
extravagance pushed him on the faster. " Extravagance in 
family living," through pride that goeth before destruction, 
was one of his causes of failure. " We are taxed twice as 
heavily by our pride as by the state." " The table robs more 
than the thief." " It is the eyes of others, not our own, that 
ruin us." The candle is soon consumed that is burned at both 
ends by neglect of both income and outcome. " Wilful waste 
makes woeful want." " Waste not, want not." A man of 
sixty begged fifty cents of a friend to pay for a day's food for 
his family. A few years before he was in receipt of $2500 per 
year, but spent all he made. '* Store is no sore." Little and 
often fills the safe. Young men especially should economize 
to get a little capital so that they may be able to do business 
for themselves. " He that hath a sword let him take it ; and 
he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one." 

There is one servant that can work seven days a week with- 
out breaking the fourth commandment, and seven nights as 
well, and that does not even take a summer vacation, namely, 
invested money. To exceed your income a dollar per month is 
misery ; to save a dollar a month from it is progress. '* Thej 



HOW TO FAIL. 175 

secret of success, ' ' says Emerson, ' ' lies never in tlie amount 
of money, but in the relation of income to outgo." 

Some of the causes of failure given in the replies I have 
received, besides those already mentioned, are the following : 
"Lack of independence of character and self-reliance." 
*^ Lack of will power and application." " Lack of managing 
power." "Depending on others and waiting for opportuni- 
ties." " Neglect of details." " Want of watchfulness in the 
whole sphere of personal action." "Self-conceit." " Pre- 
suming on one's own smartness." "Undertaking more than 
one has capacity for." " Fickleness." " Weakness of body 
and mind." "Lack of education." [I know of a man in 
Brooklyn who would have been promoted to the management 
of the business where he had long worked faithfully, but for 
the fact that he could neither read nor write. He had been 
kept from school as a boy to earn three dollars a week and is 
now paying for his parents' mistake twenty-five dollars a week 
by the loss of this position.] Other causes of failure are 
"Lack of definite purpose." "Unreliability." "Lack of 
good judgment." "Lack of capacity, knack, adaptation." 
" Indolence." " An easy temporizing disposition." " Care- 
lessness and rashness." " Lack of enterprise to keep pace 
with improved methods. " "Not studying human nature and 
adapting business to it." "Lack of system." "Trusting 
others too much and trusting too much to others.'' (" Confi- 
dence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken 
tooth and a foot out of joint.") "Lack of faithfulness in 
humble places," which last reminds me that Kev. John Hall has 
said that the best way out of a lowly position is to make your- 
self conspicuously eflScient in it. The boy or man that is 
wanted is the one who " can't be spared." Many a man has 
taken the highest seat too soon and so at length has been called 
to change places with some one who more humbly began at th^j 
lowest room and worked up. " Before honor is humility." 

The prodigal's bad company, bad habits, debts, and extrava- 
gance at length made him a pauper, and he who had been the 



I76 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

Oscar Wilde of city parlors, hired himself out to herd swine. 
Even they were better fed than he. "The way of trans- 
gressors is hard." He had sowed his wild oats merrily, but 
harvesting them in loathsome diseases and hunger of body, 
in remorse of conscience, in loneliness and disgrace, was not 
quite so pleasant. "Be sure your sin will find you out. '^ 
Then you will understand what was said by a prisoner who 
had suffered much in body, but more in mind, " My worst 
punishment is in being ivhat I am.''^ The prodigals of to- 
day learn by the same painful object lessons of experience 
the unutterable stupidity of wicked and dishonest ways, which 
ruin body, mind, credit, reputation, and the soul. 



XIX. 

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF FAILURE. 

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audientor Yite. — Vzegil. 
Content takes shelter in his cottage. — Shakespeabe, 
His best companions Innocence and Health, 
And his best riches ignorance of wealth. — Goldsmith. 
I do believe God wanted a grand poem from that man, and so 

blinded him that he might be able to write it. — George MacDonald 

on Milton. 

But there is a hopeful side even to failure. As success is 
one of the ways to failure, so failure is one of the ways to suc- 
cess — not referring to those who get rich by dishonest bank- 
ruptcies. The prodigal was nearer true success when he sat in 
the swine pasture, a ragged bankrupt, than when he revelled in 
Ms costly vices. " If they had not perished," said a man of 
his business enterprises, '^I should have perished." It had 
cost him his money to save his morals, but ' ' the life is more 
than meat." It was money or your life, and he had saved his 
soul-life in the loss of his money. 

But even in a worldly point of view, failure often leads to 
success, by rousing a man to greater energy, or leading him to 
greater watchfulness, or putting him in a more suitable place. 

A man who weighs one hundred and fifty pounds on the 
earth would weigh only two pounds on the planet Mars, and so 
could hardly stand ; while on the sun he would weigh two tons 
and so would sink, like a stone in the sea, into its hot marshes. 
Each man is too light for some places, too heavy for others, 
and just right for others. Failing in a work for which he is 
unfitted often brings Jiim to his true place. Judge Tourgee's 



178 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

failure as a reconstruction lawyer, as I have said, led to his 
success as a great novelist and editor. 

Bankruptcies are very rare in our prosperous land, only 1 
out of each 128 dealers in 1881=3597 out of 869,000.* 

There are failures and failures. We need to note clearly the 
difference between the man who fails because of unforeseen 
panics or embezzlements, and the man who fails through neg- 
lect, or of set purpose. 

" ' Extremes meet,' said the stump to the top of a tree, as 
the latter was blown down. ' It is true,' replied the top, ' that 
we are both on the ground ; but I am still the whole length of 
the tree removed from you.' " f 

" Go ahead, and if you fall, up and at it again with a will and 
determination to succeed. " " The place to find your money 
is where you lost it." Take the motto of Alexander H. Ste- 
phens, "iV^tY desperandu7n,'^ or its equivalents, " Never say 
die," " Hope ever," " Try, try again." A leading publisher 
in Chicago told me that he had been helped through many a dark 
hour in business by the old Greek motto, " The gods look on 
no grander sight than an honest man struggling with adver- 
sity," and another motto of his own, "It is better to deserve 
success than to have it." " Our greatest glory," says another 
business man, " is not in never falling, but in rising every time 
we fall." " A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up 
again. ' ' 

Another prominent man says, after answering the questions 
about success, " When I think what ' might hav^e been,' if 1 
had only obeyed my own rules, I am mortified and depressed 
beyond measure. Oh, the comforting thought that we serve a 
forbearing, long-suffering Master, who knoweth our frame, 
remembereth we are dust, and pitieth our infirmities." 

So thought the prodigal as he arose out of his failure and 
went to his father. All was not lost, for hope and home and a 
father's love remained. 

* New York Tribune. f Austin Bierbrower* 



THE BRIGHT SIDE OF FAILURE. 179 

But it should be said that a life reformed, as was the prodi- 
gal's, is not thus made as good as new. The prodigal was par- 
doned, but that did not restore his shattered health, his w^asted 
hours, his squandered propert3\ The brother who remained 
obediently at home had a fine farm, while the prodigal had 
nothing but the clothes and food that were given him. A 
ring, a robe, a pair of shoes, a fatted calf — that was all he had, 
while the brother, who had not ruined his life with vices, had 
a great estate. Mercy could not blot out the penalties of the 
sinful past, but only its guilt. It could not even whiten his 
reputation. Credit lost is like Venice glass broken. No stra- 
ti na of reform will make it as good as now. People will keep 
their eyes on the crack. " Shall we continue in sin that grace 
may abound ? God forbid." Better than all the songs over 
returning prodigals is the quiet assurance of our Heavenly 
Father to those who go not astray, but serve him from childhood, 
" Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." 
A prominent officer of Brooklyn says in his reply to the ques- 
tions about success : " There is no failure in this country with 
those whose personal habits are good and who follow any 
honest calling industriously, unselfishly, and purely. ' ' 

Many have failed in the very thing in which they were 
afterward most successful, and the more so because fully 
aroused by failure. For example, William Jennings Bryan, 
who won Democratic leadership by his oratory, failed 
ignominiously in the first college oratorical contests into 
which he entered, but, like Napoleon, he " knew no such 
word as fail " either then or when, later, he encountered 
the usual difficulties in starting a law practise. Nor has 
he been disheartened by repeated political failures. 



Aspire; break bonds, I say; 

Endeavor to be good, and better still, and best 

Success is naught; endeavor's all. 

— Brownikg. 



Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. 
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, 
or in measure. Thou shalt not have divers weights, and divers 
measures, a great and a small. For all that do such things, and all 
that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. 
A just weight and balance are the Lord's. If thou sell aught unto 
thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor's hand, thou shalt not 
oppress one another. Kemember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. 
Six days thou shalt labor. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not 
covet. He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. — Old 
Testament. 

Defraud not. 

I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in 
God be careful to maintain good works [i.e., honest occupations]. 
These things are good and profitable unto men. 

Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with 
his neighbor ; for we are members one of another. Let him that 
stole steal no more ; but rather let him labor, working with his 
hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to 
him that hath need. — New Testament. 

Place a dollar on the opposite bank of the bottomless pit, and the 
true Yankee will make a spring for it. — Wendell Phillips. 

Sharp dealing and distrust Charles Dickens thought the worst 
vices of American commercial, political, and even social life. Every 
man here is his own manager ; every man his own protector. It is 
characteristic of our pushing, fairly well-educated, shrewd American 
that the look of his eye is : " Cheat me if you can. " Far more often 
do you find this look here than abroad. It is charged against us that 
we are more shrewd than conscientious in the collisions of trade and 
politics. It is affirmed, and with some truth, I fear, that there is 
among Americans a tendency to sharp dealing in little things that is 
not found in British and German society. It is very humiliating to 
be obliged to make these confessions ; but, for one, I have come home 
with the conviction that we are capable of a good deal of improve- 
ment in the matter of honesty in little things. An American may 
be, and usuallj^ is, the soul of honor in great things ; but we allow an 
amount of sharp dealing in little things that would disgrace a man in 
many circles abroad. Give the American as much conscientiousness 
as he has will and finesse, and I regard him as incomparably the no- 
blest human creature on earth. But there are many things that de- 
velop our will and our tendency to sharp dealing more rapidly than 
our conscientiousness.— Joseph Cook. 



XX. 



STEALING AS A FINE ART, AND SOME OF ITS 
MODERN ARTISTS. 

The Tempter has an Ally in the world of traffic, wherever bad 
things are stamped with respectable names — when, for instance, 
swindling is called ''smartness," and robbery "percentage." — 
Chapin. 

The spirit of the Jewish rulers is rife in the world to-day, but the 
method of its expression is less honest now than then. Then the 
rulers said plainly, that they wanted nothing spoken or taught in the 
name of Jesus. Now it is common for the enemies of Christ to say 
that they don't object to the " pure gospel ;" but they do wish re- 
ligious teachers would let politics alone, and wouldn't be always harp- 
ing on temperance, or applying the Bible teachings to the treatment 
of the Indian, or the African, or the Chinaman, and to habits of ly- 
ing, and of dishonesty in business, and all that sort of thing. — 
Henry Clay Teumbull, D.D. 

Who draws his sword for empire or for glory, 
Deserves a robber's, not a hero's name. — Schiller. 

When Paul said, " Let him that stole steal no more, but 
rather let him labor, ' ' he was only consolidating two of the ten 
commandments — the fourth and eighth. One of these has 
been too superficially studied. A workman was dismissed for 
breaking the fourth commandment. He answered in surprise, 
" I always keep the Sabbath." " Yes," said his employer, 
* ' but the fourth commandment says also, ' Six days shalt thou 
labor,' and you have not done that." The idler disobeys 
God's law as surely as the idolater or adulterer. 

In ancient Greece and Rome it was considered more honor- 
able to get money by stealing than by labor. The popular? 



182 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

forms of stealing then were war and piracy. War is still pop- 
ular. France spends ten times as much on armies as schools. 
But in our land, where we spend ten times as much for schools 
as on soldiers, those old forms of robbery have been succeeded 
by the more refined and more extensive robberies of monopoly 
and speculation. Stealing has become a fine art. 

As in ancient times the warrior and pirate won popular ad- 
miration, while farmers and mechanics were despised, so to- 
day many young men bestow their admiration upon the man 
who can seize the property of others by commercial manceuvres 
without rendering any equivalent, and despise the slow growth 
of honest industry. 

The clumsier forms of stealing are of course despised as 
much as ever. A petty thief who robs a lady of her jewelry in 
the Fourth Avenue Tunnel in New York is sent to State Prison 
for twelve and a half years, for lack of artistic talent in his 
profession. If he had robbed three banks by embezzlements 
he might have escaped with half as long a sentence, as Boice, of 
Jersey City, did on that same day. Or if he had been a con- 
summate artist, like the thieves of the Whiskey Ring, who stole 
in " free hand style" by the million, he might have kept not 
only his money but his social standing. When the New York 
Times recently exposed a great conspiracy of New York mill 
ionaires to defraud the public, not one of them was tabooed 
from " the best society" for being caught stealing, in consid- 
eration for the fact that it was done on a Napoleonic scale. 
It is only to God and the godly that a theft by any other name 
will smell as bad. 

The decalogue has been revised to suit this phase of public 
sentiment by Arthur Hugh Clough : 

" Thou shalt have one God, only ; who 
Would be at the expense of two ? 
No graven images may be 
Worshipped, save in the currency : 
Swear not at all ; since for thy curse 
Thine enemy is none the worse : 



STEALING AS A FI^-E ART. 183 

At church on Sunday to attend 

Will serve to keep the world thy friend : 

Honor thy parents ; that is, all 

From whom advancement may befall : 

Thou shalt not kill ; but need'st not strive 

Officiously to keep alive : 

Adultery it is not fit 

Or safe (for woman) to commit : 

Thou shalt not steal, an empty feat, 

It is more lucrative to cheat : 

Bear not false witness ; let the lie 

Have time on its own wings to fly : 

Thou shalt not covet ; but tradition 

Approves all forms of competition." 

There are few highway robberies to-day because public senti- 
ment is against them, unless they are done by wholesale and 
spiced witli numerous murders, after the fashion of Missouri's 
deceased " St. James." It is easier and safer for a robber to 
disguise himself as a hotel- keeper, a cab-driver, a shoddy manu- 
facturer, or a borrower. 

Between Jerusalem and Jericho travellers used to fall among 
thieves. Now the chief of those same Arabs robs you in a less 
clamsy fashion by taking your money in advance and artisti- 
cally calling it a charge for escorting you safely through his own 
tribe. So in our land stealing has taken on new forms. These 
are so deceivingly labelled that many do not recognize stealing 
when they see it. 

It is my business as one of the moral board of health to ex- 
pose these disguised crimes in society, and so I propose to give 
a brief catalogue of the more refined forms of stealing, to put 
true labels in place of false ones — premising, however, that 
stealing is no more common than in ''the good old times," 
but more refined. 

Speaking for a moment of the clumsier thieves who get into 
jail, let me protest against the sentimentahty which has lately 
encouraged mutinies in jails because prisoners, who are better 
fed, better clothed, and better housed than most of them were 



184 SUCCESSFUL MEi^r OF TO-DAY. 

when at large, are compelled to do two thirds as much work as 
free operatives perform in the same trade. If prison regula- 
tions are so severe, how is it that prisoners come back again and 
again as long as they live, asking for a six months' sentence as 
the pleasantest way to get through a Winter ? In my judgment 
the prisons err on the side of leniency rather than severity. 
The sentences are too short and the privileges in prison too 
many to keep prisoners from returning. In 1880, 147 out of 
897 in Auburn State Prison were there on a second visit. 

In 1880, there were 215 persons confined in our State pris- 
ons for murder and killing, but only 115 were in for life. The 
State gives the rest a chance to go out and kill again. Of 1518 
in Sing Sing that year 581 were in for less than three years. 
Men who are known to make crime a profession and have no 
;other means of support are, by short sentences, sent out again 
and again from the prisons to renew their trade. Nor after a 
fifth offence but after a second should a man be declared an 
" habitual criminal," and locked up for life in mercy to society. 
We can hardly sympathize with most that is said about prison 
severity when such men get coffee three times a day (in Sing 
Sing), meat daily, with buns extra on Sunday, and all the 
dainties their friends care to send them. The only real punish- 
ment these men get, as the warden said to me, is separation 
from wine and women. 

When a boy was asked by his teacher why lightning never 
struck the same place twice he answered, " It never needs to." 
If punishment were as swift and severe as it ought to be, it 
would never need to strike the same man six times, as it does 
in many cases nowadays. Of 28,889 arrested in Brooklyn in 
1881, 17,795 — about two thirds — were dismissed by the judges 
with no punishment at all. Either the police should be pun- 
ished for making needless arrests or the judges for criminal 
leniency. The only way in which this leniency of the courts 
seems to be working together for good is in showing what sort 
of a world we should have if a Judge too merciful to punish sat 
on the throne of the universe. 



STEALING AS A FINE ART. 185 

B'9t4ng, pools, policies and lotteries — all of them forms of 
gambling — are unfair exchanges of nothing for something, and 
therefore robbery. The only explanation of the unceasing 
prosperity of these transparent frauds is in Carlyle's concise 
census of the population — " mostly fools." There is no fact 
which may be more solidly relied on in commercial arrange- 
ments than that. He who caters for people of common-sense 
deals with the minority. The quack has the crowd. " The 
spirit of the age," says Samuel Smiles, " is not that of thp 
trader, but the gambler. ' ' Anthony Comstock raided one lot- 
tery shop in New York where 1750 letters a day were received, 
inclu(^ing an average of $5176 per day of money. That wa» 
the knaves' harvest from the fools. 

Wherever a fortune is offered for nothing there is sure to be 
a sni/'ke in the grass. A wise dog doesn't leave a bone for a 
shadow. One spring chicken in hand is worth a whole flock 
of wild geese on the wing. The short-cut of gambling is the 
longest way around after all. Better go about than fall in the 
ditch. Better a donkey that carries you than a horse that 
throws you. Gaming is the son of avarice and the father of 
despair. Sub rosa, thorns. The innocent loses his own bird 
in hand and beats the bush that the sharper may get all the 
birds. A great many old birds as well as young ones are 
caught by the gambler's chaff. The embezzler is usually first 
a gambler. 

The devil, without a foot of ground of his own, offered Christ 
all the kingdoms of the world as a bribe for his worship. 
Napoleon at a later day accepted the same offer, and died in 
exile. To-day the devil makes the same lying offer to the 
gambler, and so gets him to cast himself down to destruction. 
This gambling phase of robbery makes money enough to bribe 
telegraph companies to become its accomplices in law-breaking, 
and policemen into allowing violations of the laws, and it controls 
30,000 votes in New York City. But it cannot buy off the curse 
of God which rests on all winning of money by the fascination of 
chances, without an exchange of services or goods, from church 



186 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

fairs to gambling in stocks. The Roman Catholic Church, 
which originated the African slave-trade, has also a fearful 
responsibility for increasing the passion for gambling by estab^ 
lishing lotteries on a large scale to build its cathedrals. Prot^ 
estant churches also, in a smaller way, have shared in the guilt 
of encouraging this mad passion for unearned money. We 
need to crush this crocodile in the egg, to suppress every form 
of winning money by chances. 

The leading merchants m Chicago have determmed to dis- 
charge any clerk who gambles in " pools," believing that no 
person can long follow the practice without becoming a gam- 
bler and a swindler. 

Gambling is as fascinating as a rattlesnake to those who once 
begin it. " The best throw of the dice is to throw them 
away." Let us avoid the beginnings of the evil, and even its 
more respectable forms. 

That reminds me that when gamblers were generally arrested 
in Chicago, they retaliated by causing the arrest of stock oper- 
ators on the Board of Trade, claiming that the latter were 
fellow-gamblers in the same condemnation. The consequent 
legal proceedings showed that more grain was sold in Chicago 
annually than is raised in all the world, and that most of the 
operators never handle any merchandise at all, but only bet on 
next month's stock prices — how they will be affected by the 
death of a Garfield or a railroad war. 

The editor of the New York Journal of Commerce said to me 
recently that in prosperous times ninety-seven per cent of all 
the transactions in the New York Produce Exchange are not 
legitimate business but pure gambling. Even in dull times the 
percentage of mere betting on prices is ninety. The New York 
correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin says that of the 
14,000 brokers in New York not more than 340 really sell any 
stocks. 

There are two Wall Streets. One of them does the country 
real service by legitimate speculations. In the other and larger 
one, vultures of a feather flock together. The thief of the 



STEALIN-G AS A FINE ART. 187 

wheat *' corner" is no better than the thief of the saloon cor* 
ner.* Why do people smile when told who lives in a home 
on the Hudson that was raised in honor of honesty ? 

To count it more respectable to bet on prices than races is a 
distinction without a difference, or if there be a difference, one 
would think it a lower business to bet on a dead vegetable than 
on a live animal. 

A stock gambler, being unsuccessful, committed suicide, and 
left on his table a written copy of Jer. 17:11: "As the part- 
ridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not ; so he that getteth 
riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his 
days, and at his end shall be a fool." f 

Were it not for the strength of the gambling passion, men 
would be deterred from speculation by the large proportion who 
fail in it. William H. Yanderbilt recently said to a legislative 
committee, " Not one man in ten who goes into Wall Street is 
not a loser in the long run." In Chicago a man entered the 
Board of Trade with $50,000, and in sixty days left it penni- 
less. And yet, such is the fascination of chance and hope, that 
the man who has reaped the whirlwind often continues to sow 
the wind, looking for a better crop next time. 

The wickedness of the whole system of stock gambling ap- 
pears in the fact that it does not allow both parties in the trans- 
action to profit by it (as must be the case in all legitimate 
business), but one's gain is simply another's loss. " To one 
whose beard was on fire another said : ' Here ! let me light my 
pipe.' " We hear little of the failures, but there are ten times 
as many as of the boasted successes. Many go out for wool 
and come back shorn. " A fish, being caught on a hook, 
reproached the angler for his cruelty. ' Reproach yourself, 
rather,' said the angler, ' for your intended cruelty to the 
worm.' " I 

Scientific professors make hydrogen bubbles and then by a 

* See Bible description of corners and blind pools, Prov. 1 : 10-19. 
f Prov. 15 : 6. | Austin Bierbrower. 



188 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

touch of fire cause them to explode with a bang as they fly 
through the air. Mark the bubbles " Options," " Futures," 
and you have a picture of Wall Street, where men are forever 
chasing the bursting bubbles of great expectations. 

Many a history of Wall Street investments might be put into 
this little fable : " This is a Picture of Freddy's Rabbits. But 
it is the Picture of a Fox. The Fox is very Fat. Where are 
Freddy's Rabbits ?" 

Dishonest speculation is worse than useless. It is wrong. 
Only fair exchange is no robbery. 

What a crowd of well-dressed thieves are just now living by 
tricks and swindles ! * " When there are five eggs for the 
penny, four of them are rotten. ' ' That looks simple enough 
for everybody to understand. But thousands do not under- 
stand it, and so respond to every swindler's offer to make them 
rich for a dollar. It requires a page per month in the Ameri- 
can Agriculturist to give a brief mention of the new humbugs 
that are robbing the people. The department is fitly headed 
with the picture of a lighted lamp to which the moths are 
flocking, and around which they are falling in death. How 
much it costs to learn that one sentence, The good mines 
never go begging for stockholders. 

The most popular and perennially successful device of swin- 
dlers is to pretend an acquaintance with some stranger who has 
just reached the city, and at last get him to exchange some 
bogus check for the cash. Even the Concord School of Phi- 
losophy people were duped to the extent of a thousand dollars 
by this old trick. Would it not be well for them to pause in 
studying "the thingness of the here" long enough to learn 
some of the ordinary tricks of unphilosophical swindlers ? 

One of the worst forms of modern stealing is known as the 
rehypothecating of trust funds — that is, the secret use of trust 
funds for speculation. The New York Telegram calls this 
" The Era of Defaulters." The New York Tribune recently 

* Prov. 14 : 15, 16. 



STEALING AS A FINE ART. 189 

published the record of five great embezzlements in one day. 
If a man is unsuccessful in this style of stealing and so is found 
out, he gets a short term in jail ; but if he succeeds in his rob- 
bery and puts back what he stole, no questions are asked about 
how he got rich so fast with so little money of his own. The 
man who speculates, however carefully, with money which was 
confided to him as a trustee to keep safely, not to use, is the 
pal of the burglar — only more wicked, because he betrays a 
trust. 

" An ape is an ape, a varlet's a varlet, 
Though they be clad in silk or scarlet."* 

Not only our courts but public opinion should condemn more 
severely this aggravated crime. 

Thorold Rogers has said, " The costliest unclean beast that 
society can keep in its menagerie, is an unpunished commercial 
rogue." Such a rogue should certainly be caged behind prison 
bars. 

But well-dressed thieves are soon released by the petitions of 
sentimental women and soft-hearted merchants to soft-headed 
governors, and so they become once more wild steers to spread 

* " Where are you going ?" said a gentleman one Sunday to a prison 
chaplain. " I'm going to preach to the prisoners in the peniten- 
tiary," was the reply. " A hard audience," said the first speaker. 
" Not so different from your pastor's fashionable audience as j^ou 
think," said the chaplain. " For instance, there is a laundress in 
the prison who was sent therefor rehypothecating two shirts at a 
pawn-shop to raise a little money to buy food for her family. She 
intended to redeem the shirts in a day or two and send them to the 
owner at the usual time, but the illegal act was discovered, and she 
was sent to prison. If every man in your pastor's rich audience who 
has illegally borrowed money on the security of trust funds was sent 
to jail, don't you think it would thin out his audience somewhat ? 
And then there is a man in the prison for selling cigars that had not 
paid the revenue tax. Suppose all the rich ladies in your pastor's 
audience that, on returning from Europe, have smuggled in laces and 
silks that were liable to duty, were sent to the penitentiary, don't you 
think it would rather crowd the woman's department ?" 



190 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

commercial distrust through society. If we made it hard times 
for defaulters there would be none for the people. Ingenious 
political economists attribute the periodical depression of busi- 
ness to the increase of spots on the sun. The real trouble is 
the lack of stripes on the defaulters. 

" The shameful record of the administration of the insurance 
receivers of New York, as laid bare by the New York Herald, 
shows that sometimes the receiver is a good deal worse than the 
thief." 

A father said to his son : " Now, my boy, I've been making 
my will, and I've left a very large property in trust for you. 
I merely wish to ask if you've any suggpsti n to offer?" 
The son replied, " Well, I don't know that I have, sir — unless 
— hum— as things go nowadays, wouldn't it be better to leave 
the property to the other boy, and — appoint me the trustee V^ 

A shrewd business man being asked recently, " Where is the 
best place to put a small amount of trust funds ?" replied, " In 
the vaults of a good safe deposit company." " Ah, but you 
o;et no interest." " True ; but you know where to find your 
principal when it is wanted ; and of what other place can you 
say that, nowadays ?" The statement is too strong at present, 
but the defalcations and embezzlements of the last three months 
have undoubtedly brought many to the same opinion. 



XXL 

POLITE PILFERING. 

Throngh tattered clothes small vices do appear ; 

Eobes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, 

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks ; 

Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it. — Shakespeabb. 

The national Constitution and the Constitution of most of the 
States were formed before the locomotive existed, and, of course, no 
special provision was made for its control. Are our institutions 
strong enough to stand the shock and strain of this new force ? I fail 
to believe that the genius and energy that have developed these new 
and tremendous forces will fail to make them, not the masters, but 
the faithful servants of society. — Gabfteld. 

The Himalayas of American robbery are called monopolies, 
which mean that one or more rich men, by buying up all com- 
petitors or crushing them out of existence, get the control of 
some commodity — a perpetual " corner" — and then compel all 
the nation to " stand and deliver" whatever price they may ask 
in the way of plunder. It is a highway robbery of the whole 
nation at once. For instance, according to J. R. Keene, the 
coal monopoly is just now robbing the people of one dollar per 
ton — compelling us to pay that much more than the normal 
price. 

Our commercial life is an oligarchy. A dozen men dictate 
what we shall pay for oil, for coal, for wheat, for stocks of 
every kind. Francis A. Walker showed in the Tribune of 
December 14th, 1882, that business establishments are every 
decade concentrating in larger shops and factories. The great- 
est political contest @f the future is to be between the " robber 



192 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

barons" of monopoly and the people, as to wliicli sliall rule.* 
Anti-monopoly is a good cause, whatever any one may think of 
its leaders. The only fear is that the trodden worm will turn 
into a snake. 

" General, come in here a moment ; we have something for 
you to solve. If a man brings his watch to be fixed, and it 
costs me ten cents to do it, and I keep it a week, and charge 
him six dollars, what per cent do I make ? We have been 
figuring, and make it nine hundred per cent, and have only got 
up to one dollar. How much do you say it will be at six dol- 
lars ?" 

" Well," replied the general, '' I do not wonder at your 
perplexity ; for it is well known, and the celebrated Babbit 
calculating machine has demonstrated, that at certain points in 
progressive numbers the law governing them changes. In this 
case the law would change, and long before it would reach the 
six dollars it would run out of per cent and into what is known 
as larceny !" 

Condemnation of petty stealing comes with bad grace from 
these monopolists. The ass brays at the dog for barking. A 
lion, feasting on a deer, upbraids the cat for mouse-catching. 

When the government keeps a constant look-out against 
watered milk and none against w^atered railway-stock, it is 
straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. So also when it 
controls the transit of the Panama Canal and not our trans-con- 
tinental railways. 

The monopolist grows only through the commercial death of 
small competitors whom he unfairly crushes by underselling. 
Selling men is bad, but so is underselling. One robs of libert}^, 
the other of a living. 

We call these wholesale robbers ' ' smart. ' ' You had rather 
be a smart knave than a fool. But the knave is a fool. " The 
folly of fools is deceit." Nothing in the long run is so great a 

* Prov. 11 : 21, 26 ; 16 : 19. " Power," says Emerson, " is what 
these rich men want — not candy." 



POLITE PILFERING. 193 

blunder as wrong-doing. ' ' I had rather be right than Presi- 
dent." 

" Your hoards are great, your walls are strong, 
But God is just ; 
The gilded chambers built by wrong 
Invite the rust. 

*' "What ! know ye not the gain of crime 
In dust and dross ? 
It ventures on the way of time, 
Foredoomed to loss ! "* 

But, alas, the rich are not allowed to monopolize monopoly. 
In a " Trade and Labor Convention" held some 5^ears ago at 
Philadelphia, and presided over by President Jarrett, a resolu- 
tion was passed asking that it should be made " a penal offence 
to import foreign labor under contract for the purpose of 
reducing the wages of American labor." The New York 
Tribune describes this as an attempt at " the most outrageous 
monopoly ever conceived in the interest of the men who happen 
to have migrated to this country already." There should be 
no confiict between labor and capital. They are as necessary 
to each other as to the bow the cord is, useless each without 
the other. 

This resolution is a timely reminder that the root of all evil 
needs to be weeded out of Ihe poor man's potato patch as well 
as the rich man's garden. It will hardly do for the shop-keeper 
who has half a dozen prices for the same article, to denounce 
railroads for charging a lower freight to some monopoly than 
to other companies which it wishes to crush. Let us all, rich 
and poor, join the Society of the Royal Law and love our 
neighbors as ourselves. 

Another instance of poor men stealing from each other is 
found in the violations of the Sunday law. It was in the inter- 
est of poor workmen, and especially slaves, that Constuntine 
enacted the first civil law against Sunday labor, except works 

*-^hittier. 



194 SUCCESSFtJL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

of necessity and mercy. Alfred the Great enacted a similar 
law for the same reason, as a breakwater for the poor against 
the oppressions of the rich. Thus the workingraen got seven 
days' wages for six days' labor, and a rest day extra. Now it 
is largely the workingmen themselves that cry out against Sun- 
day laws, and require other laboring men to give up their Sun- 
days in ministering to their pleasures, forgetting that they are 
thus opening the way for employers to compel them all at 
length to work seven days for -six days' wages. 

Even now those who break the Sabbath steal from those in 
the same trade who keep it. For instance, two candy stores 
close on Sunday in obedience to law. Another in the same 
neighborhood keeps open and takes nearly all the trade which 
would have been divided on Saturday evening if all had kept 
the law. The only profits taken on Sunday that could not 
have been taken without the loss of a seventh-day rest are the 
missionary pennies which the Sunday-school children embezzle. 
We may expect unparalleled embezzlements when these chil- 
dren, so early led to steal and break the Sabbath, shall be- 
come our treasurers and trustees. Every superintendent should 
use the law to close these Sunday-schools of the devil when 
funds are embezzled and children corrupted. 

No wonder that many conductors, both of street-cars and 
railways, are found guilty of stealing fares, since they have 
been led by their employers straight to the breaking of the 
eighth commandment through the crack in the fourth. A 
State that robs its creditors by repudiation need not wonder 
if its own treasurer profits by the lesson. The railroad riots 
of a few years ago are but a whisper of warning as to what 
men may do who are robbed of their Sunday lessons in good 
morals. 

A boy of thirteen came to the city to seeK his livelihood. 
The first opportunity that offered was a position in a drug 
store. For a few days everything seemed satisfactory, but 
after a few weeks' experience he exclaimed, earnestly, " I can- 
not stay in that place. I am willing to work all day, to work 
nights, and to work hard ; but to work Sundays, that's what I 



POLITE PILFERING. 195 

won't do. If people only came in to buy medicine, that 
would be one thing ; but to stay there and sell perfumery, and 
soda water, and mineral water, things th(.^y don't need at all ' 
I never felt so mean in all my life." The brave little fellow- 
felt that his moral nature had received a shock and his sense of 
right had been outraged. It would simplify the Sunday ques- 
tion if there were more of such heroes. 

Stealing by false weights and measures is far more common 
than is generally known. When I was pastor in New York, 
measures used by retailers were tested, and found to be 
generally short. Other cities are no better. That makes us 
half believe Theodore Parker's lemark: "Let the right be 
given a Boston merchant to sell out the Atlantic Ocean by the 
quart, and he will cheat in the measurement." It is also a 
symptom of something amiss that the papers contain so many 
small jokes about false measures, such as the following : 

" The son of a butcher experienced great difficulty in com- 
prehending fractions, although his teacher did his best to make 
him understand their intricacies. *' Now let us suppose," said 
the teacher, " that a customer came to your father to buy five 
pounds of meat, and he only had four to sell — what would he 
do ?" — " Keep his hand on the meat while he was weighing it, 
and then it would weigh more than five pounds," was the can- 
did response. 

" How is it, Mr. Brown," said a miller to a farmer, " that 
when I came to measure those ten barrels of apples I bought 
from you I found them nearly two barrels short ?" '' Singu- 
lar, very singular ; for I sent them to you in ten of your own 
flour barrels." '* Ahem ! Did, eh ?" said the miller, " well, 
perhaps I made a mistake." 

" It seems to me your loaves are not of the same weight," 
muttered a fault-finding housewife to a baker, as she poised a 
couple of loaves from his basket ; " do you suppose you can 
cheat me ?" " I don't want to cheat you," replied the man 
of bread, not relishing such an insinuation ; " I know the 
loaves were weighed, every soul of them, and one weighs just 



196 SUCCESSFUL MEif OF TO-DAY. 

as much as t'other, by gracious ! and more too, I dare say, if 
the truth was known !" 

The lecturer began, " There is a fortune lying in wait — " 
Up jumped a bullet-headed fellow in the north-east corner to 
remark, " Well, I guess you're 'bout right there, mister. 
There's Bill, the butcher. Three years ago, he wasn't wuth a 
dollar. He's got a fortin' now. Got it as you say by lying in 
weight. ' ' 

" When all de half bushels gits de same size, you may look 
out for the millenicum. " 

'' Do you want to know," said a customer to a grocer, 
" how you could sell a good deal more than you do ?" " Yes. 
How can I ?" ''''Fill up your measures.''^ 

Sach jokes, even if not facts, are signs of a truth. They are 
straws which show the current. 

Why is it that a coal dealer, opening business recently, adver- 
tised that he would gtve full weight ? Why did he not adver- 
tise that he would not steal any of the coal sold to his custom- 
ers ? Whoever steals two hundred or one hundred pounds of 
coal out of his customers' ton blackens all his gold. " They 
all do it" will not whiten a theft. Custom cannot make two 
and one equal four. 

The man who sent a four-gallon jug for molasses and received 
it back with a bill for five gallons, said that he didn't mind the 
extra gallon of molasses, bat that he was afraid of the stress on 
the jug. What we are afraid of is the stress on the conscience 
of those who weigh their goods by the false balance that is 
called an abomination to the Lord. 

It is hardly fair to represent Justice any longer with a pair 
of scales in her hands. Put the blindfolding on the customer 
and call the picture Injustice. 

Ruskin is right in saying that cheating should be punished 
more severely than stealing. In one of Mr. Moody's meetings 
I knelt for an hour beside a repentant grocer who had cheated 
his customers by false weights and false entries. He found no 
peace of conscience unti Hie^m ade lestitution, which is the bet 



POLITE PILFERING. 197 

ter half of penitence. Let your pocket weep forth its ill-gotten 
gains. Let your money repent, that is, turn again to its right- 
ful owners. 

Perhaps stealing never appears so fully as a fine art as in the 
role of adulterations. Obtaining money by false pretenses has 
a wider range than is commonly thought. It includes all ob- 
taining of money by selling goods for what they are not in kind 
or quantity or quality. 

In a report on the " Adulteration of Food " presented to the 
House of Representatives of the 46th Congress at its third ses- 
sion (Report 199) by Mr. Casey Young, from the Committee on 
Epidemic Diseases, it was stated that " the adulteration of arti- 
cles used in the every-day diet of vast numbers of people has 
grown to and is now practiced to such an extent as to seriously 
endanger the public health and to call loudly for some sort of 
legislative correction. Drags, liquors,* articles of clothing, 



* I have seen in the hands of a tempariince lecturer a wonderful 
tin box, such as is used by runners for wholesale liquor dealers, con, 
taining drugs and recipes for making all kinds of wine without 
grapes, cider without apples, etc. The box came into his hands 
through the suicide of a druggist, all the facts being certified to bj- 
Kev, Mr. Halsey of Brooklyn. He has also a pile of books purchased 
in England, France, Australia, Sandwich Islands, California and 
New York, giving directions for making (not importing) all kinds oi. 
foreign liquors out of the spirits of wine, by the use of these poison- 
ous drugs ; also directions for making new barrels look old, etc. He 
has offered large sums of money again and again to liquor dealers in 
public audiences for a single pint of pure wine, or pure gin, or pure 
brandy from their stores which would stand chemical analysis, but 
without success. At the close of one of these lectures, on March 27tQ, 
in Brooklyn, a reliable gentleman of my acquaintance, who is in the 
drug business in New York, said that the lecturer's statements as to its 
being well nigh impossible to get pure liquors even for medicinal purposes 
were the simple truth. " I do not believe," he added," that there are 
five gallons of pure brandy in all New York City. ' ' The London Times, 
commenting on the facts given to the public by the American Consul 
at Kochelle in France, about the falsification of brandy not only by 
merchants but by the very proprietors of the vineyards, calls atten^ 



198 SUCCESSFUL MEN^ OF TO-DAY. 

wall paper, and many otiier things seem to be subjected to the 
same dangerous processes. " The report shows that adultera- 
tions are especially common in spices and groceries. 

We are horrified when we hear of some exceptional fiend try- 
ing to poison a whole family at once in their food, or when we 
read of a city being poisoned by infected clothing. What shall 
we say of the men who deliberately sit down with their chemis- 
tries and pick out cheap poisons, which they can secretly ad- 
minister to a whole nation in its food and diinks and clothing, 
for their own gain ? What matters it if there is a slaughter of 
the innocents by these " doctored goods," if the manufac- 
turers' pockets are filled ? Even when the adulteration or imi- 
tation is not a poison, as when glucose is sold for sugar, or 
oleomargarine for butter, it is a lie and a theft. 

" For ways that are dark and for tricks that are vain, 
The heathen Chinee is not peculiar." 

Some of the eccentricities of modern adulteration are deli- 
cately disclosed to the consumers by a contemporary German 
satirist in the following neat and pregnant little fable : " There 
were once four flies, and, as it happened, they were hungry one 
morning. The first settled upon a sausage of singularly appe- 
tizing appearance, and made a hearty meal. But he speedily 
died of intestinal inflammation, for the sausage was adulterated 
with aniline. The second fly breakfasted upon flour, and forth- 
with succumbed to contraction of the stomach, owing to the 
inordinate quantity of alum with which the flour had been 
adulterated. The third fly was slaking his thirst with the con- 

tion to the alarming increase of adulterated beverages, and says in 
closing : " Not only in France, but in other countries, and even in 
the United States, these liquors are producing a condition of national 
alcoholism of the worst kind. " Those who take whiskey for whiskey, 
or brandy for brandy, or wine for wine, in these days when the uni- 
versal habit of adulterating liquors is so well known, " shut their 
eyes when they open their mouths," but do not get what will make 
them either " healthy or wealthy or wise." 



POLITE PILFERIN-G. 199 

tents of the milk jug, when violent cramps suddenly convulsed 
his frame, and he soon gave up the ghost, a victim to chalk 
adulteration. Seeing this, the fourth fly, muttering to him- 
self, ' The sooner it's over the sooner to sleep,' alighted upon a 
moistened sheet of paper exhibiting the counterfeit presentment 
of a death's head, and the inscription, ' Fly Poison.' Apply- 
ing the tip of his proboscis to this device, the fourth fly drank 
to his heart's content, growing more vigorous and cheerful at 
every mouthful, although expectant of his end. But he did 
not die. On the contrary, he throve and waxed fat. You 
see, even the fly-poison was adulterated !" 

In the long run such adulterations rob the pocket as well as 
the character. " Consul Shaw, at Manchester, sends home a 
statement concerning the cotton imported from this country to 
England, which is disgraceful to the South. Sand, it is stated, 
is packed in the cotton, shovelled in or blown in, to so large 
an amount that thousands of tons of it are bought and paid for 
as cotton in the course of a year. Water is also thrown into 
the bales, to increase the weight ; and not satisfied with that, 
the greedy planter in some cases cunningly hides stones and 
lumps of iron in the cotton. As a natural consequence, 
Egyptian and Indian cottons, ' although not so easy or 
pleasant to spin,' are gaining favor in the market because they 
are honestly packed, while the adulterated American is steadily 
losing value. Consul Shaw proposes that growers and packers 
should be required to stamp their names and addresses on each 
bale. The raw cotton which we export has a precisely opposite 
history from our manufactured muslins, prints and ducks, as they 
have begun to thrust the fraudulent English cotton goods out 
of the Asiatic, and even out of the British markets, because 
they are wholl}'' free from adulteration. It takes the average 
manufacturer and trader a long time to learn that honesty is 
actually the best policy in business in the long run. Our con- 
suls unceasingly urge this fact on American exporters of sugar, 
butter, beef, pork, machines, and canned goods ; and now it 
comes to light that we have been cheating in cotton. It is a 



200 SUCCESSFUL MEI^ OF TO-DAY. 

pity that the Southern agriculturist, with his one important 
crop, should have to learn at this late date how senseless and 
impolitic is dishonesty, and should destroy his one chance in a 
manner so stupidly shameless and ruinous."* 

Men say, " Others adulterate, and I must or fail." Better 
fail that way than a worse one. 

Since imprisonment for debt has ceased, one of the most 
popular methods of stealing is borrowing without the proba- 
bility of paying. 

Some years ago a Highlander, being in the city of Glasgow 
for the first time, one fine morning was amazed at the stream 
of people flocking from all quarters toward the end of the 
green, where criminals were hung. He asked a passenger what 
the folks expected to see down there. 

*' A man is to be hanged this morning, sir," was the answer. 

" Oh, poor man ! and what are they going to hang him for ?" 

" Sheep-stealing, sir." 

'' Tat, tat ! poor stupid man ! Why did he not buy them 
and never pay for them .^" 

There is a class of men in every community who live for 
years by this form of petty thieving — making small loans and 
incurring small bills which they never pay. They do no other 
business, and yet are able to enjoy all the luxuries of life. 
Every business which gives credit, charges the paying customers 
extra to cover these losses, so that every honest consumer is 
robbed by them. 

A German shoemaker, having made a pair of boots for a 
gentleman of whose financial integrity he had considerable 
doubt, made the following reply to him when he called for the 
articles : " Der poots ish not quite done, but der beel ish made 
out." 

The Methodist Discipline brands this " borrowing without 
the probability of paying" as a crime against God and man. 
Let public opinion put the same criminal stripes upon it. 

* New York Tribune. 



POLITE PILFERING. 201 

" I stand," said a stump orator, " on the broad platform of 
the principles of '98, and palsied be my arm if I desert 'em." 
" You stand on nothing of the kind," interrupted a little shoe- 
maker in the crowd ; " you stand in my boots that you never 
paid me for, and I want the money." 

It would be wholesome if these small-debt thieves were often 
thus exposed. I pity the man who for such petty thieving will 
sell out his power and right to look every man straight in the 
eye. His resources of credit soon run out. " A wooden pot 
cannot often be put on the fire." 

A Scotch nobleman, seeing an old gardener of his establish- 
ment with a very ragged coat, made some passing remarks on 
its condition. "It's a verra guid coat,'' said the honest old 
man. " I cannot agree with you there," said his lordship. 
" Ay, it's just a verra guid coat," persisted the old man ; "it 
covers a contented spirit, and a body that owes no man any- 
thing, and that's mair than mony a man can say of his coat." 

But the great artists of refined stealing incur debts on a large 
scale, and then take advantage of the " new way to pay old 
debts" — bankruptcy laws. 

" The world is a goose : to succeed, you must pick 
The feathers off nicely by buying on tick. 
The vulgar pickpocket is sent off to jail : 
Be polite ; give your note ; and gracefully fail.' 

The skilled artist will see to it that while he goes through the 
bankruptcy court his fine horse is driven round by his wife, 
with most of the valuables. It has become a proverb, " He 
who never fails will never grow rich." It is easier to rob by 
bankruptcy than by burglary. This is a ground where every 
critic should tread with justice and carefulness, since honest 
misfortune and dishonest rascality have fled to the same city of 
refuge — the bankrupt law, I have only sympathy for the man 
who, in spite of economy, fidelity, and diligence, has fallen 
before the simoon of financial disaster, through the power of 
influences beyond his control, but since robbers have fled to the 



202 SUCCESSFUL MEN" OF TO-DAY. 

same sanctuary it is but justice to every bankrupt who is on a 
church record, as well as to the church, to have, as in former 
times, a church committee appointed to investigate whether the 
bankruptcy is really a failure or fraud, thus separating the 
wheat from the tares, the unfortunate from the unprincipled. 

Where is conscience during all these respectable robberies ? 
There is a strange custom said to exist among thieves in China. 
They prepare a composition of some medicated ingredient, sup- 
posed to be aconite, and lighting it, blow it into the room to 
be robbed by means of a tube, through a hole previously made 
— not a difiBcult thing in a Chinese house with paper windows 
and doors. The inmates are thus ansestheticized, or at least 
deprived of the power of speech and locomotion, and the 
thieves enter and do their work. In vain does the proprietor 
being robbed see the burglars. He cannot move limb or 
tongue. It is said that water absorbs this poison, and so for 
this purpose it is not uncommon for wealthy people to sleep 
with a basin of water at their heads. 

In this country the thieves stupefy their own consciences 
with covetousness and excuses as a preparation for stealing by 
wholesale. The best we can wish for such men is that they 
may some day run for office. Then they will hear from the 
public conscience, which requires a candidate for political office 
to be more honest than most of his constituents. Or they will 
find their judgment day, when, needing credit, " the books are 
opened" at the Mercantile Agency, which records the com- 
mercial biography of every merchant, and it is shown that they 
were once negligent about their debts, and paid them at last by 
dishonest bankruptcy. 

And what shall I more say of the varied forms of refined 
stealing ? for the time would fail to speak in detail of the 
bribery * of public officers and commercial buyers by monopo- 

* Deut. 16 : 19 ; Prov. 15 : 27 ; 17 : 23. 

The bribery of commercial buyers is rapidly growing into a 
national evil. The runner for an oil company, for instance, enters a 
wool establishment where a great deal of oil is used, and being re- 



POLITE PILFERING. 203 

lists and jury fixers and merchants ; of hubbelling, by which 
government employes are blackmailed for party purposes ; of 
liquor-selling, which robs the public by adulterations, by trans- 
gressing its legal rights in selling on Sundays, and to children, 
and by taking money without returning a fair equivalent ; of 
some lawyers, who, unlike physicians, have not given up bleed- 
ing their patients, and rob the public by legislative lobbies to 
prevent the simplifying of the unjust insurance laws, and by 

f erred to the foreman, says to him confidentially : " We call the price 
of this oil twenty-five cents a gallon, but all I want to get is twenty 
cents, and we will divide the five cents a gallon between us if you will 
buy of me." If the foreman is dishonest, he buys not of the man who 
will furnish the best oil, but rather of the one who will pay him the 
largest bribe. A recent investigation of the senatorial barber-shop of 
the Pennsylvania Legislature, as described by the New York Tribune, 
will further illustrate the dark ways of this commercial bribery : 

" We regret to observe that second-rate articles were ' rung in ' on 
the able Senators in several instances. The barber let out his patron- 
age by contract, and some of the contractors made handsome profits 
by supplying inferior goods. Thus the sponge contractor agreed to 
supply sponges at $15 a pound. Those he furnished were' subse- 
quently estimated as being worth no more than $2 a pound. Of 
course, the State was the pecuniary loser in the transaction, but what 
ignominy it was for the august senatorial head to be swabbed with 
a sponge of so low a quality. Then boxes containing only sixty bars 
of soap were paid for as if containing one hundred. Second-rate, 
and possibly second-hand, combs and brushes were furnished in the 
same way, and there were suggestions that the man who supplied the towels 
and chamois-skins had a ' divy ' with the harher by which he furnished 
poor supplies and made a 50 per cent profit on his contract. This shows 
how corruption is gnawing at the very vitals of our institutions. 
Nothing is too sacred for its polluting touch. Think of the Pennsyl- 
vanian senatorial bald head, scrubbed with laundry soap, washed off 
with a sponge bought on a street corner at ten cents the dozen, pol- 
ished up with a towel which may have been a discarded dishcloth, 
and finally whitened with a nasty chalk preparation deceitfully called 
powder ! No wonder free institutions are tottering ! If this is the 
kind of treatment which a great modern statesman experiences when 
he submits himself to be shaved and bathed at the public expense, 
our system of government is a miserable failure. ' ' 



204 SUCCESSFUL M.f:N OF TO-DAY. 

needless delays in the courts, which verify the proverb, " The 
more law the less justice ;" of stealing by painters and me- 
chanics, who prolong one job until they get another ; of rich 
men stealing from the public by withholding their taxes or pay- 
ing them in some place where they do not really reside, thus 
indirectly making their poor neighbors pay their tax ; of em- 
ployers stealing from their employes by keeping back their 
wages or unjustly cutting them down ; of stealing by false 
signs, false advertisements, false statements, false bills, false 
labels ; by giving better meat to rich customers than to the 
poor at the same charge ; nnd by sham prices, " charging 
what is unjust that you may get what is just" from those who 
ask for a discount, and more than is just from those who do 
not. 

Before you cast a stone of condemnation at these refined 
forms of stealing, be sure that you are not yourself at least as 
far as the hallway of a glass house. It will hardly do for those 
who steal half-price rides for their " scooching" children that 
are beyond the half-price age, to criticise the grocer for giving 
short rneasure. 

" The steam-cars run so rapidly that they get way ahead of 
a child's age, so that the boy or girl who was fifteen when he 
entered them is no more than six or eight by the time the con- 
ductor comes along. Boast of our progress as you may, 
there's no denying that the children are behind the age on rail- 
ways and at the entertainment ticket offices." 

It is estimated that the government loses over a million dol- 
lars a year by the second use of postage stamps — the ink being 
washed off. Whoever steals a postage stamp is at least a dis- 
tant relative to him who robs a mail-bag. And how many 
people send writing through the mails in newspapers or rolls at 
printed matter rates ! The Postmaster-General of Great 
Britain says that 14,000 newspapers were detected doing this 
illegal service between England and the United States and 
Canada last year. 

Another phase of petty dishonesty is tardiness in meeting 



POLITE PILFERING. 205 

engagements by which one robs others of time, which is money 
to them. A man promises to pay a bill on the first day of the 
month, but carelessly lets it run on to the tenth, to the great in- 
convenience or loss of his creditor, who depended on his prom- 
ise. Tardiness is dishonesty. Stealing time may be even 
worse than stealing money. 

Bad work is yet another common form of stealing that needs 
a true label. A man pays for work of a certain grade, and does 
not get it. His money has been obtained by false pretences. 
All bad work is lying, stealing, and sometimes murder, for in- 
stance the bridges and tunnels that fall in and destroy piopeity 
and life, and in the defective plumbing which produces disease 
and death. 

A convict says he was sent to prison for being dishonest, 
and yet he is compelled every day to cut out pieces of paste 
board, which are put between the soles of the cheap shoes 
made there and palmed off on the innocent public as leather. 

Let labor unions strike against doing bad or dishonest work, 
and so acquit themselves of the charge of being as much actu- 
ated by selfishness as their employers. Let them dismiss idle 
and incompetent men, and seek to raise the grade and quality 
of their work as well as its price. Let us hear of strikes for 
honest work by those engaged m base and useless occupations, 
and for better work by those who are in right employments 
that are badly conducted. Three removes are as bad as a 
fire, but a dozen are better than doing a dishonest business. 
As we have accomplished emancipation from the slavery that 
forced men to do unpaid work, let us save ourselves from the 
slavery of organizations that force men to be idle ; that strike 
against wages that wrong themselves, but not against work that 
wrongs the public. 

I must not omit from these refined specimens of stealing that 
to which the Bible refers when it says : " Will a man rob 
God? In tithes and in offerings have ye robbed me." The 
early teachings of God to the human race, as far back as the 
days of Abraham, before there was a Jewish people, I under 



206 SUCCESSFUL MEiq- OE TO-DAY. 

stand to indicate that a tenth of our income belongs to God as 
our Father and King. The rule is as appropriate now as it 
ever was. We ought to give beyond that, but one tenth of 
our income, I take it, is not ours to keep. Withholding it, we 
shall come to see by and by is embezzling trust funds. 

That church member in Connecticut who recently gave five 
dollars to Foreign Missions, ten dollars for pew rent, and thirty 
thousand dollars for his own monument, has raised a monument 
of his unchristian character. 

As one labels poisons that they may not be mistaken for 
food, so it will be profitable for us to examine the questionable 
practices of to-day and label the various forms of stealing, as I 
have sought to do. 

If all thieves were punished, as in some lands, by having 
their hair cut short and smeared with pitch and a pillow-full of 
feathers emptied over their heads, what a horde of savages we 
should have, and how it would put up the price of feathers ! 
Some bankers and trustees and treasurers would not look quite 
so fine and trim as they pass up the avenues to their palaces 
built of fraud. 

As a nation is deeply affected by the atmosphere of the 
country in which it lives, so I believe that the commercial 
atmosphere of some great cities has unconsciously lowered the 
standard of integrity in many once good men. Now the only 
sentence in Ecclesiastes that they believe is, " Be not righteous 
overmuch." They are content to be " average honest," which 
means anything between the highest Christian and the lowest 
knave. They sympathize with the little girl who, being asked 
if she had been good, answered, " Not veddy good, not veddy 
bad — just a comferable little girl." 

But there is no comfort in being " average honest." As 
well die for an old sheep as a lamb. Let our honesty be 
" o' and o' " — out and out. The old road of integrity seems 
a long way round, but in the end it is shorter than the short 
cut of fraud that leaves you in the swamp. He who seeks to 
destroy others wrongs himself yet more. Don't let any one 



POLITE PILFERING. 207 

see you do a mean thing, especially not the man you are always 
with — yourself. Then you will never be afraid of being found 
out. Only the black fear they will be blackmailed. 

*' The honest man, though ne'er so poor, 
Is king o' men for a' that." 

" He that walketh uprightly walketh surely," 

In the language of Dr. Cuyler's motto, " No one was ever 
lost on a straight road." 

As a godly merchant lay upon his dying bed, he spoke to 
his children of the little property which he had acquired and 
was leaving behind him. "It is not much, but there is not a 
dirty shilling in it. ' ' 

" Perish policy and cunning, 

Perish all that fears the light ; 

Whether losing, whether winning, 

Trust in God and do the right. 

Some will hate thee, some will love thee, 
Some will flatter, some will slight ; 

Cease from man and look above thee, 
Trust in God and do the right." * 

* Dr. Norman MacLeod. 



Labor rids us of three evils — tediousness, vice, and poverty. — 

CAEIiYI^E. 

It may be proved with much certainty that God intends no man 
to live in this world without working ; but it seems to me no less evi- 
dent that he intends every man to be happy in his work. It is writ- 
ten, ' In the sweat of thy brow, ' but it was never written, ' In the 
breaking of thy heart ' thou shalt eat bread. — Kuskin. 

To be satisfied, or at all events reconciled with our occupation, 
whatever it may be, is the first essential of mental health. It is of the 
utmost importance for a man to choose such a profession or occupa- 
tion as his education and mental qualities best fit him to pursue, and 
having made his choice, to recognize the fact that he is working for 
some fixed and definite purpose. Let a man so school and discipline 
himself that when misfortune or disaster comes it shall find him with 
sufficient reserve force, with enough mental or nervous stamina, to 
make the best of what remains and not be overcome by an unlooked- 
for and unexpected stroke of misfortune. The habit of doing one 
thing at a time and doing it well , the power of concentration, which 
is the outgrowth of this habit, and a resolution to make the best of 
life and the work one has chosen, are the surest defence against mis- 
fortune and the best safeguard against disease. — De. Edward E. 
Janeway, 

There is no secret of success but work.— Turner. 

Genius is capacity for an extraordinary degree of application. — 
Agassiz. 

A somewhat varied experience of men has led me, the longer I live, 
to set the less value on mere cleverness ; to attach more and more im- 
portance to industry and physical endurance. Indeed, I am much 
disposed to think that endurance is the most valuable quality of all ; 
for industry, as the desire to work hard, does not come to much if a 
feeble frame is unable to respond to the desire. No life is wasted 
unless it ends in sloth, dishonesty or cowardice. No success is 
worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and brave 
breasting of the waves of fortune. —Huxley. 



XXII. 

LABOR AND LUCK. 

*' Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. " 
There is no other safe road. 

Rev. Washington Gladden investigated the early history of 
eighty-eight of Springfield's leading men. Of these, only five 
were not in early life trained to regular work. Ninety-four 
and a half per cent of these successful men were either farmers' 
boys or poor, hard-working town boys. Only five and a half 
per cent of that company of successful men came from the class 
of boys who have " nothing in particular to do." From this 
latter class, however, come most of tbe thieves and jail-birds, 
who would not work for pay, and so had to work without pay. 
Howard found that even prisoners grew worse if not set to 
work. " O then we bring forth weeds when our quick minds 
lie still." Young loafers first read their fate, " Steal or 
work ;" then in prison they re-read it, " Steal and work." 

Henry Ward Beecher tells a story of a man in the Canadian 
backwoods, who, during the summer months, had procured a 
stock of fuel sufficient for the winter. This man had a neigh- 
bor who was very indolent, but not very honest, and who, hav- 
ing neglected to provide against the winter storms, was mean 
enough to avail himself of his neighbor's supplies without the 
latter's permission or knowledge. Mr. Beecher states that it 
was found, on computation, that the thief had actually spent 
more time in watching for opportunities to steal, and labored 
more arduously to remove the wood (to say nothing of the risk 
and penalty of detection) than the man who in open daylight, 
and by honest means, had gathered it- 



210 SUCCESSFUL MEiq^ OF TO-DAY. 

" The latest gospel in tlie world," says Carlyle, " is, Man, 
know thy work, and do it. " If the stage route is discontinued, 
strike for the cars. If no whales, try an oil-well. A City Hall 
sign aptly says, ' ' Gentlemen will not, and others must not loaf 
on these steps.'' ^ Gentlemen " will not loaf," but labor. 

Fireflies shine only when in motion. It is only the active 
who can hope to shine. The bicycle falls when it ceases its 
activity. Doing nothing is an apprenticeship to doing wrong. 
The man who stands with his hands in his pockets through the 
morning will have them in other folks' pockets before night. 
" When the field was sown without being ploughed, it yielded 
without being reaped." " A young man idle, an old man 
needy." " He that will eat the kernel must crack the nut." 

" A lazy man is of no more use in the world than a dead 
man, and he takes up more room." "Sloth is the key to 
poverty." " He that would thrive must rise at five." He 
who waits for something to turn up is likely to turn up in jail. 
The rich reproach the poor for idleness — that is, the sieve 
reproves the needle for having a hole in it. Fathers should 
early teach their boys that " if any one will not work, neither 
shall he eat." 

Mr. Beecher has well said that every idle man has to be sup- 
ported by some industrious man. Rich as England is, all her 
wealth would only support the population in idleness for one 
year. 

What a picture of a sluggard is that in Proverbs : " A sloth- 
ful man putteth his hand in his dish, and will not so much as 
bring it to his mouth again." * He is " born tired." If he 
ever saw a snail, he must have met him, for he never overtook 
one. 

While avoiding idleness as one extreme, overwork is to be 
shunned as the other. A man overworks to gain $200, and 
then pays out $500 in recovering his health. That is like the 



* Bead Prov. 6 : 6-11 ; 18 : 9 ; 19 : 15, 24 ; 21 : 13, 25 ; 22 : 13 
24 : 30-34 ; 26 : 13. 



LABOR AKD LUCK. 211 

progress of the little girl, who explained her lateness at school 
one wic*^.er day by saying that for every step she took forward 
she sliDped back two. " How, then, did you ever get here ?" 
said the Wacher. ' ' Oh, ' ' said the quick-witted child, ' ' I turned 
around and went the other way. ' ' Overwork puts one back 
two steps for every one gained. It is better to go the othei- 
way. It is the early worm that falls a victim to the early bird. 
One should not be early to rise unless he is early to bed. Only 
for such does " the morning hour have gold in his mouth." 
" The man who is to keep other folks awake must sleep a great 
deal himself." What a haste looks through the eyes of 
Americans ! We are gluttons of work. " People should 
shine as lights in the world, but not put the candle in a draught 
or doorway." " Every American, so Europe thinks, is born 
half an hour too late, and is trying all his life to make up lost 
time." Between idleness and overwork lies the happy valley 
of healthy industry. As we read of Adam before the fall put 
into the garden " to dress it and to keep it," we see that a life 
of business activity is consistent and appropriate to the highest 
rank, the fullest pleasure, the noblest purity. Let us magnify 
our office, and be happy in whatever work we have to do, in the 
spirit of the organ-blower, who said he could pump any tune 
the organist could play. The test of honor is achievement. 
'' What hast thou that thou didst not receive ?" 

Amor et labor omnia vincit. The mountain of success does 
not come to us. We must go to it step by step. Persever- 
ance removes mountains or tunnels them. " Wo aid you live 
long, work hard," said Rowland Hill, and proved it. Hard 
labor prevents " hard luck." I suggest that when the " Thir- 
teen Club" have proved that is not an unlucky number, they 
further prove that labor is luck. 

Rufus Choate believed in hard work. When some one said 
to him that a certain fine achievement was the result of acci- 
dent, he exclaimed, " Nonsense ! You might as well drop 
the Greek alphabet on the ground and expect to pick up the 
Iliad." 



212 SUCCESSFUL MEN OF TO-DAY. 

The Paris correspondent of the London Times once said to 
Thiers, ''It is marvellous, M. le President, how you deliver 
long improvised speeches about which you have not had time 
to reflect." "You are not paying me a compliment," he 
replied : " it is criminal in a statesman to improvise speeches 
on public affairs. The speeches you call improvised, why, for 
fifty years I have been rising at five in the morning to prepare 
them." 

A new book which has been warmly commended for its 
thoroughness and finish, is said to have been rewritten nine 
times, and portions of it fifteen times, before it was committed 
to the printer. 

A man who is very rich, when asked how he got his riches, 
replied, " My father taught me never to play till all m}^ work 
for the day w^as finished, and never to spend money till I had 
earned it. If I had but half an hour's work to do in a day, I 
must do that the first thing, and in half an hour. After this 
was done I was allowed to play. I early formed the habit of 
doing everything in its time, and it soon became perfectly 
easy to do so. It is to this habit that I now owe my pros- 
perity." 

Don't take your work as a dose. Rather say, as Christ did 
of his appointed work — no easy task — " I delight to do thy 
will, OGod." 

" Hard work" is frequently mentioned by our prominent 
men among the secrets of success. " No sweat, no sweet." 
This secret of success is variously expressed : " Plodding per- 
severance," " Unceasing labor," " Willingness and ability to 
work," "No shrinking from hard work," "Hard study," 
" Persistent study." 

" Lack of hard study" is given as a reason why so many 
lawyers fail ; also " Impatience of irksome details." 

Among the general reasons for failure are the following 
which connect with this question of work : " Disposition of 
young men to take life easy and willingness of parents to let 
them." " Antipathy of young men to learning a trade." 



LABOR AND LUCK. 213 

" Shirking drudgery." (" The horse opens his mouth when 
one says, Oats, and shuts it when he says, Bridle.") 

A rich man in Ohio said, " I'm proud of my boys. As 
soon as they were old enough to work, I bethought myself that 
riches had spoiled many boys, and also that rich boys might be 
poor men. So I gave to every boy his work. Some of them 
carried on a garden, from which I purchased supplies for the 
kitchen, requiring them to be posted on market reports and 
keep their accounts in proper style. Others managed a car- 
penter's shop, and were paid for making repairs. In this way 
they all learned to work and to use money, and were happier 
than if they had been left in idleness." 

Most of the men who are now at the top of the ladder in 
financial success began at the bottom and mastered every detail 
of their trade step by step. Franklin Fairbanks and Orange 
Judd each told me they could take the place of any workman 
in their employ except the blacksmith. Hon. William E. 
Dodge began by sweeping out the store which he afterward 
owned. Moen of Worcester also mastered his business from 
the bottom. An eminent merchant says that " most of the 
failures in any business come from not thus serving an appren- 
ticeship to it." Haste is slow. Things slowly obtained are 
long retained. Speculators, who make money rapidly, gen- 
erally lose it with equal rapidity. It is the patient, steady 
plodders who gain and keep fortunes. 

William H. Webb, the great shipbuilder of New York, is a 
good example for the young men of the United States in this re- 
spect. His father had won a fortune in shipbuilding, and, like 
many loving fathers, wished an easier life for his favorite boy. 
But the young man preferred his father's trade, and determined 
to master it. He went into the shipyard like a common workman, 
beginning at the foot of the ladder, and acquired great skill in the 
use of all the tools. Soon, even the experienced hands did not 
equal him in nicety of work. He was still a young man when his 
father died, but he continued the business, and won in it a high 
reputation. He was the first man in the yard in the morning, 



214 SUCCESSFUL MEiq- OF TO-DAY. 

and the last to leave it at night. With his own hand he drew 
the model of every vessel built therein, wrote in a book every 
specification, and marked on the frame the place for every 
stick of timber. No better vessels, either for war or com- 
merce, were built in the world than came from Webb's yard. 
Of the one hundred and forty built under his own eye, not one 
proved a failure. 

Sir Titus Salt, the great English manufacturer of alpaca, used 
to boast, when he was a millionaire, that he could at a moment's 
notice take the place of any workman in his vast factory. He 
was master not only of the financial but of the mechanical part 
of his business. 

Prof. W. A. Mowry gives the following incident : " A few 
years ago a young man went into a cotton factory and spent a 
year in learning the work in the carding-room. He then de- 
voted another year to the spinning-room, still another in learn- 
ing how to weave. He boarded with the weaver of one of 
these rooms, and was often asking questions. He picked up 
all sorts of knowledge. He was educating himself in a good 
school, and was destined to graduate high in his class. He 
became superintendent of a small mill at a salary of about 
$1500 a year. He was sought for a higher place. It hap- 
pened in this way : One of the large mills in Fall River was 
running behindhand. Instead of making money, the corpora- 
tion was losing. They wanted a first-class man to direct the 
affairs of the mill. They applied to a gentleman in Boston 
well acquainted with the leading men engaged in the manufact- 
ure of cotton. He told them he knew of a young man that 
would suit them, but they would have to give him a good 
salary. 

" ' What salary will he require ? ' 

" ' I cannot tell, but I think you would have to pay him 
$6000 a year.' 

" ' That is a very large sum ; we have never paid so 
much. ' 

" ' No, probably not, and you have never had a competeni 



LABOR AND LUCK. 215 

man. The condition of your mill and the story you have told 
me to-day show the result. I do not think he would go for 
less. I should not advise him to ; but I will advise him to ac- 
cept if you offer him that salary ; and I think he will save you 
thirty per cent of the cost of making your goods. ' 

" The salary was offered, the man accepted, and he saved 
nearly /or^y j?er cent of the cost the first year. Soon he had a 
call from one of the largest corporations in New England, with 
whom he engaged as superintendent for five years, at a salary 
of $10,000 a year. He had been with this company only 
about one year before he had an offer of another position, with 
a salary of $15,000 a year. Bat he declined the offer, saying 
that he had engaged where he was for five years, and he should 
not break his contract even for $5000 a year margin." 

The neglect of trades by young Americans is becoming a 
subject for reform agitation. Judge Wylie, of Washington, 
in sentencing a young man to the penitentiary for larceny, took 
occasion to say that he could not see how a young man can get 
a trade now because the trades-unions control the matter of 
apprenticeship. He attributed " the universal idleness" of the 
American boy to the bars which these trades-unions have raised 
against apprenticeships. But the real difficulty lies deeper. 
When a mechanic or " greasy operative" who earns thirty dol- 
lars a week by honest and useful and skilled toil is considered 
the social equal of a clerk who gets one third as much for 
measuring tape ; when our public schools, by an industrial de- 
partment, honor and encourage manual work ; when parents 
are willing their sons should be trade-seekers instead of office- 
seekers, then these bars will be quickly broken down by 
public sentiment and legislative action. Then we shall have 
more Americans in the trades and fewer in the jails. The 
*' steal or starve " brigade will be transferred to the ranks of 
industry. 

There is always work enough for skilled hands. *' To him 
that hath shall be given." 

*' There are too many dogs," said a cur to a setter. " We 



216 SUCCESSFUL MEN^ OF TO-DAY. 

are not in demand." " There are not too many good ones," 
replied the setter. 

Would that there were more public school teachers like 
Willi.im Dimmock, principal of Adams Academy, of Quincy, 
who aimed more to form character than to crowd the memory. 
Over his desk was a picture of the cross entwined with two 
lines from the poet Herbert : 

' ' "Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, 
Makes that and the action fine." 

About the cross was yet another motto from Carlyle : " What 
hast thou to do with happiness, except the happiness of getting 
thy work well done ?" 

All of us owe the world, in return for God's gift of life, 
our best work. We are " debtors both to the wise and un- 
wise," to use all our opportunities for doing them good. 

Ex-President Cleveland had a, typical American career, 
illustrating the possibilities that come to poor boys, even 
with small educational privileges, who have the will to 
work. He was the child of a Presbyterian preacher who 
had a large family but a small salary. He left school at 
fourteen years of age to become the clerk of a village store 
at 150 a year. His father proposed a college education for 
him, but died shortly after, and Grover resumed business 
as a bookkeeper. A year later he caught the Western fever 
and went to Buffalo, then considered a part of the " Far 
West." There he worked up from a lawyer's office boy to 
partnership in the firm, and from that into political posi- 
tions, as sheriff, governor, and President. 



XXIII. 

RELATION OF WORK TO RANK. 

Of all the grand developments of this grand age, none is grander 
than the dignity with which womanly efforts at self-support have 
come to be invested, and yet we occasionally meet with expressions 
of the fossilized idea that work is derogatory to a ladj^ or at least 
that her avocations, if she have such, are to be kept as secret as pos- 
sible, and put, so far as may be, in an ambiguous light. " My daugh- 
ter cannot content herself with humdrum home duties, and so em- 
ploys her superfluous energies in teaching." " My sister spends all 
her time in societies and the like." " We are lonely at home, and 
therefore have asked a few friends to live with us for company, " etc., 
etc. How false and mean such statements sound ! Would we not 
all ridicule a man who said that he entered into business to occupj' 
his leisure time, or who gave out that he was not obliged to work, 
but did so from caprice, taste, or benevolence ? Why should a differ- 
ent standard be applied to woman's work ? — M. E. Winslow. 

Not a truth has to art or to science been given, 

But brows have ached for it, and souls toiled and striven. — Lttton. 

The word king is derived from a word that means, both in Scotch 
and German, " I can' ' and " I know." The kingliest of men, there- 
fore, are those who both know how to do and who can do. — C. S. 
Robinson, D.D. 

There is not a trade or profession, except tliat of the soldier, 
that has not been considered in some age and country, as shep- 
herds were in Egypt, " an abomination.'''' In countries not 
leavened by Christianity, war and robbery have commonly been 
considered the only paths to honor. 

The Spartans left agriculture to their slaves. Kleon the 
tanner and Hyperbolus the lampmaker are satirized by Aris- 
tophanes for presuming to engage in politics. Savage tribes 



<420 SUCCESSFUL MEiq- OF TO-DAY. 

usually leave manual work to their women, while the " braves" 
themselves, smoke, sleep, hunt, and fight — the only occupa- 
tions that they deem becoming for a man. 

To the Persians, buying and selling was a mean practice, as 
it was thought impossible to carry it on without lying or cheat- 
ing, an opinion in which I find that some business men of to- 
day avowedly agree. When Cyrus learned that the Lacede- 
monians kept a market, he despised them. When the Lydians 
revolted he was advised by Croesus to enforce upon them as a 
punishment the wearing of effeminate clothing, the practice of 
music, and shopkeeping. Ulhorn says that the Greeks and 
Romans despised all who worked for money except those 
engaged in medicine, architecture, and commerce. War was 
still more honorable than these. 

In the first act of Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar a carpenter 
and cobbler are reproved because, " being mechanical, they 
ought not to walk upon a laboring day without the sign of their 
profession" — the leather apron, rule, etc. In the caste distinc- 
tions of India, Egypt (of the past), and other countries, the 
priests usually occupy the first rank, soldiers the second, and 
mechanics of different kinds the third, fourth, and fifth. Our 
caste distinctions that exalt a clerkship above a trade, and make 
domestic service less honorable for a girl than work in a manu- 
factory, are quite as foolish. " The employes of a mill-owner 
or a merchant are as much his ' servants ' as any housemaid is 
the servant of her employer, and in precisely the same sense. 
Any one who takes wages for work is a servant of the one who 
emplovs and pays him ; and no woman can escape being a ser- 
vant if she earns money by honest labor." 

Literary workers have also been as lightly esteemed. In 
Rome there was a class of slaves who did the studying and 
writing for their masters. They were called the literati, then 
by no means a term of honor. 

Even in modern times Walter Scott was obliged to conceal his 
business partnership in the publishing house of Constable 
Brothers in order to preserve his social standing. A relic of 



RELATION- OF WORK TO RAKK. 22l 

this barbarism still lingers, and prevents many a young* lady of 
talent among the wealthy from using her pen, lest she suffer in 
the estimation of her associates. 

" Why is he called a ' working-man ' who uses a spade or a 
plane or a heavy hammer, in distinction from him who uses a 
pen ? Why is he a ' working-man ' who uses his hands for ten 
hours a day, any more than he who uses his hands and, what 
is more, his head, too, for fifteen hours of the twenty-four ?" 

It is refreshing to turn from such man-made follies to God's 
original plan, and see man in honor, man in bliss, man in pu- 
rity, AT WORK. " The Lord God took the man and put him 
into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." 

** When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ?" 

Look along the catalogue of God's greatest servants, and see 
how universally they come from the busy walks of life. Abel, 
Joseph, Moses, David, Amos were shepherds, called from their 
flocks to thrones on earth and in glory. Noah was a ship- 
builder ; Abraham and Jacob were stock-raisers ; Isaac, Job, and 
Elisha were farmers ; Peter, James, and John were fishermen ; 
Matthew was a tax-collector, Luke a physician, and Christ a 
carpenter. 

Among God's chosen people, instead of a contempt of labor, 
even the children of wealth and the sons of literary men, as I 
have said, were accustomed to learn a trade. For instance, 
Saul or Paul, though a member of Israel's supreme court or 
Sanhedrim, had learned the trade of a tentmaker. 

The parables of Christ unconsciously put the same honor upon 
honest labor. The Father is " The Husbandman ;" the Son is 
the Shepherd, the Lord of the Vineyard, and the Advocate. 

The kingdom of heaven, grand and glorious as it is, is li- 
kened to a housekeeper putting leaven in her meal ; to a farmer 
sowing and reaping ; to a fisherman sorting his fish ; to a mer- 
chant seeking goodly pearls. 



222 SUCCESSFUL MEi^^ OF TO-DAY. 

The whole Bible is thus interwoven in the closest sympathies 
with active business life, and that too in an age when in all 
other lands work was despised. 

It is to the shepherds of Horeb and Bethlehem that God re- 
veals Himself in the burning bush and the Heavenly light. The 
shepherd to-day, as he looks on the bushes and trees glowing 
with flowers or autumn leaves, as if the heavenly flame was 
in their midst again, or looking into sunset skies when the 
" glory of the Lord shines upon them," should feel that the 
God of Horeb and Bethlehem is nigh at hand and not afar off, 
and that He is saying once more, *' Certainly I will be with 
thee," and whispering again the message of " Peace.'' ^ 

The housekeeper, as she remembers amid her cares the 
widow's cruse and who kept it from failing, and the miraculous 
supply at the wedding-feast of Cana, should realize the sym- 
pathy of God in her work, and gild her labors with songs and 
thoughts of Him who has bidden us pray, " Give us this day 
our daily bread," and who has given the promise, " God will 
provide. ' ' 

The fishertjan amid his labors and his perils should remem- 
ber joyfully who walked the seas of old and made the storm a 
calm. 

•' Tossed upon the raging billow. 
Sweet it is, Lord, to know 
Thou didst press a sailor's pillow, 
And canst feel a sailor' s woe. ' ' 

It is a false and unchristian sentiment that in some places 
makes peculiarity of employment rather than excellence of 
tchievement the badge of honor ; that asks where we work, not 
hoWj as the test of our position. An absurd instance of this 
folly was given in the suicide of a young man who left a note 
saying that he was made by God to be a man, but doomed by 
man to be a grocer. 

It is not the mark or prerogative of high position to 
have nothing to do. Ninety out of every hundred on the 



EELATIOiT OF WORK TO RANK. 



223 



Massachusetts State prison record of a recent year liad the 
words " no trade" against their names. Men of leisure are not 
always men of rank. 

Thank God for a nation of workmen, a nation where the pro- 
fessional man and the merchant, as well as the day laborer, ' ' by 
something attempted, something done, have earned a night's 
repose." 

Away with the folly that idleness is kingliness. It is the 
diligent in earthly and heavenly work to whom is given the 
promise to stand before kings in this world, and that they 
shall before the King in the next, as did Joseph, David, Dan- 
iel, Mordecai, and Paul. " Be thou faithful over a few things, 
and I will make thee ruler over many things." 

Some one has aptly said, " When you can dig fields with 
toothpicks, blow ships along with fans, and grow bread in 
flower-pots, then it will be a fine time for dandies. There is 
plenty to do in this world for every pair of hands placed upon 
it, and we must so work that the world will be the richer be- 
cause of our having lived in it. ' ' 



FINIS. 




IFIICHES Ti 



^^VIKOS. 



i^^-^^^ 5» 




A- /a 












A JFEW AUTOGRAPHS. 



APPENDIX. 



We subjoin here a few representative specimens of the re- 
plies received from prominent and representative men to the 
questions on page 1. Answers to 4 and 8 mostly omitted. 

INQUIRIES. 
[for the benefit of young men.] 

1. Was your boyhood, up to fourteen years of age, spent in 
the country, in a village, or in a city ? 

2. In either case, were you accustomed to engage in some 
regular work, when out of school, either in the way of self- 
help, or for your parents ? 

3. At what age did you begin business life or undertake self- 
support ? 

4. Did you use tobacco previous to the age of sixteen ? 

5. What maxims or watchwords, if any, have had a strong 
influence on your life and helped to your success ? 

6. What do you consider essential elements of success for a 
young man entering upon such a business or profession as 
yours ? 

7. What, in your observation, have been the chief causes of 
the numerous failures in life of business and professional men ? 

8. Are you a church member ? 

ANSWERS. 

Mark Hopkins, D.D., LL.D., ex- President of Williams 

College : 
1. Country. 



2v6 APPEijmx. 

2. Yes. 

5. None. 

6. Capacity and determined purpose. 

7. Want of above. 

Franklin Carter, LL.D., President of Williams College I 
1. ViUage. 

6. Concentration of mind. 

7. Want of the above quality and of devotion to truth. 

Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D., ex-ambassador to Ger- 
many, President of Cornell University : 

1. Village. 

2. No ; and I consider this as a matter of regret. 

5. Such maxims as inculcate a kindly contempt for purpose- 
less men, or men who through their own fault become failures. 

6. Soundness of heart and mind ; clear judgment ; fair 
knowledge of men ; great devotion to some one purpose or 
study, but with breadth of view. 

7. Want of will ; over-smartness ; unwillingness to labor 
and wait. 

Charles W. Eliot, LL.D., President of Harvard University : 

1. City. 

2. No. 

5. I do not remember any. 

6. Intelligence, alacrity, energy, good judgment, and up. 
Tightness. 

7. Stupidity, laziness, rashness, and dishonesty. 

Hon. J. H. Seelye, LL.D., ex-Congressman, President of 
Amherst College : 

1. In a country village. 

2. Yes. 

5. Never to seek work, and never to refuse it. 

6. Patiently to wait for it. 

7. Undue haste. 



APPENDIX. 2^7 

President S. C. Bartlett, D.D., of Dartmouth College : 

1. Village. 

2. Not regularly. 

5. The simple purpose to do well all I had to do. 

6. Conscientious diligence. 

7. Lack of principle, of fixed purpose, of perseverance. 

C. N. SiMMS, D.D., Chancellor of Syracuse University : 

1. Country. 

2. Worked on the farm twelve to fourteen hours a day. 

6. Conscientiousness, systematic industry, heart in his works 

7. Lack of self-forgetful work, insincerity, indolence. 

President Joseph Moore, of Abingdon College, Richmond, 
Ind. : 

1. Spent in country on farm. 

2. Worked for parents year round when not in school, and 
then early and late evenings and mornings. 

5. Remember no special maxims. A Christian mother, 
plenty of work, the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, and another 
plain book or two made me early see that life was too serious 
for trifling. 

6. That he take care of his health ; that he act on the 
principle that devotion and application to duty are essential 
after success is secured as truly as before. 

7. I believe one of the most common causes of failure to be, 
acting from policy rather than from Christian principle ; (2) 
undertaking the wrong ^^wrswi^. 

Joseph Cook : 

1. In the country up to fourteen ; afterward in villages and 
cities. 

2. Yes ; but I was never overworked physically ; perhaps 
six hours a day is a high average. 

3. Not until about thirty-five years of age. My father gave 
me twenty -five years of education, including foreign travel. 

5. Clear ideas at any cost ; obedience to God, the organ of 
spiritual knowledge ; total self -surrender to conscience. 



228 APPENDIX. 

6. Complete self-surrender to God, clear thought, varied and 
accurate learning. 

7. Dishonesty, cowardice, indolence. 

Hon. William Windom, ex-Secretary of Treasury, ex-Senator: 

1. Country. 

2. Yes. 

3. Sixteen. 

Judge Noah Davis, Chief Justice, of New York : 

1. In a village. 

2. I was accustomed to regular work, both for my parents 
and for self-help. 

5. I do not recall any particular maxim or watchword which 
I can say has had a strong influence on my life, or helped me 
to success. 

6. The profession of the law requires, to achieve complete 
success, great industry, strict integrity, and exclusive devotion 
to its duties and labors. 

v. Impatience, or the inability " to labor and to wai-t.'^ It 
is the misfortune of our country and age that riches are deemed 
the chief source of honor. The haste to get rich pervades and 
controls all business and professions, and leads to rash and ill- 
advised efforts, risks and speculations, which result in failure 
oftener than in success. It leads into temptations, fraud, crime, 
and despair. 

Judge George G. Reynolds, of the City Court of Brooklyn - 

1. On a farm. 

2. Brought up to work, going to school only winters unti- 
college days. Even in school days did chores night and morn- 
ing and worked Saturdays and vacations. 

6. A stubborn determination to succeed, and some enthusiasm 
both in the anticipation and pursuit of the profession which I 
chose. Secrets of success in general : Capacity and adapta- 



APPENDIX. 229 

tion ; then industry, perseverance, pluck — as well as good luck 
— and emphatically integrity and a bigh sense of honor. 

Hon. Alexander II. Stephens, ex-Vice-President of South- 
ern Confederacy, ex Congressman, ex-Governor of Georgia (de- 
2eased since sending reply) : 

1. Country. 

2. Always at work when not at school. 

5. " Time and tide wait for no man." " Take time by the 
forelock." '''Labor omnia vincit.''^ '"''Nil deaperandum.'" 

6. Truth, honesty, uprightness, honor, conscientiousness. 

7. Want of punctuality, honesty, and truth. 

Hon. J. P. St. John, ex-Governor of Kansas : 

1. Mostly in a village. 

2. Engaged in regular work. 

5. The good advice, prayers, and example of a noble Chris- 
tian mother have had a good influence on all my life. Though 
long since dead, she has been a beacon light to me. 

6. Honesty, industry, sobriety, Christianity. 

7. Idleness, intemperance. 

Hon. Darwin R. James, Member of Congress from Brook- 
lyn : 

1. In the country all of the time until twelve years old ; 
then at boarding-school most of time. 

2. Although my father, who came to Williamsburg (now 
Brooklyn) when I was twelve years old, was well to do, yet he 
brought his boys up to work when out of school. We had 
plenty of play, but we were taught to be industiious, diligent, 
and ecorwmical. 

5. I set out, when a young man, with two texts of Scripture 
as mottoes : "A good name is rather to be chosen than 
great riches," etc., and " Seek /irst the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness. " These had a great influence upon me. At 
the age of eighteen I commenced in mission Sunday-school 



230 APPEITDIX. 

work in what is now the Throop Avenue Mission Sunday-school 
I have continued steadily at it in that field for thirty yearns 
next month. 

6. This is a very hard question to answer. What is sue- 
cess ? What kind of success do you mean ? True success is 
the building up of a strong Christian character and the using 
of one's faculties for the glory of God. Religion which in- 
fluences the daily life is the basis ; strict truthfulness, which 
is an outgrowth of it ; integrity of character, industry, per- 
severance, temperate and simple habits, correct views of life 
and mankind, humility, etc., etc. 

7. Incorrect views of the great end and aim of life. Men 
are not contented to lead plain lives of integrity and upright- 
ness. They want to get ahead too fast, and are led into temp- 
tation. 

I am glad you are working up this subject. I wish you 
great success. If young men only would study their Bibles ! 
Pleasure, show, money, is the aim of the crowd. 

Hon. Nelson Dingle y, ex-Governor of Maine, M. C, editor 
of Lewiston Journal : 

1. Village. 

2. Worked on farm. 

6. Character, industry, perseverance. 

7. Lack of the power of practical adaptation. 

Hon. C. B. Farwell, M. C, Chicago : 

1. In the country. 

2. Worked on my father's farm until I was past twenty 
fears of age. 

5. Spend less than you earn each year, and practice 
economy. Buy nothing unless needed. 

6. Integrity with money, but integrity without ; integrity 
even as a policy. 

1. Want of integrity first, and of capacity second. 



APPENDIX. 231 

Hon. William Aldrich, M. C, Chicago : 

1. Country. 

2. Yes, and was kept out of school in busy seasons to help 
npon the farm before I was ten years old. 

5. Absolutely to drink nothing that could intoxicate. In- 
dustry, integrity, and to spend less than I earned, were taught 
me by both my parents. 

6. To adopt the maxims above, and make himself master of 
his business by a thorough comprehension of it. 

7. First, trusting dishonest, incompetent, and importunate 
men ; second, a want of sufficient industry to comprehend and 
thoroughly understand their own business ; third, intemperance 
beats everybody. 

Hon. Ripley Ropes, Superintendent of Brooklyn Public 
Works : 

1. Seaport town. 

2. My parents were poor, and insisted upon my forming 
habits of industry, beginning with ten years of age. 

5. To avoid idleness, and to be so faithful to my employers 
in the discharge of all duties imposed that my help would be- 
come a necessity. 

6. Industry, economy, and strict integrity. Without these, 
few succeed in any business or profession. 

7. Not pursuing industriously and contentedly the calling 
which they originally adopted. Making haste to be rich by 
seeking to follow those supposed to be gaining faster and 
easier, thus dividing time and energy. The great highway of 
life is strewn with wrecks of this character. There is no 
failure in this country with those whose personal habits are 
good, and who follow any honest calling industriously, un- 
selfishly, and purely. To such, success is sure. 

Hon. Joseph Medill, proprietor of Chicago Tribune, ex- 
Mayor of Chicago : 
1- Mainly on a farm. 



232 APPENDIX. 

2. I worked hard at farm labor for my parents. 

5. " Poor Richard's" maxims ; the Golden Rule, and 
'' Honestj is the best policy." 

6. Sobriety, avoidance of intoxicating drinks and all forms 
of gambling, a virtuous life, fidelity to employers or clients, 
close study, hard work, honesty. 

7. Liquor-drinking, gambling, reckless speculation, dishon- 
esty, tricky conduct, cheating, idleness, shirking hard work, 
frivolous reading, lack of manhood in the battle of life, failure 
to improve opportunities. 

Hon. William Bross, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois, 
and editor of Chicago Tribune : 

1. Village. 

2. In daily farm and other labor in the village of Milford, 
Pa., and lumbering along the Delaware River. Always in 
regular work for my parents till past eighteen, then in teaching, 
and working my way through college as best I could. 

5. The proverbs of Solomon and other Scriptures, and Frank- 
lin's Poor Richard's preface to his almanacs. They were 
quoted a thousand times by my honored father, and caused an 
effort to do my whole duty each day, under a constant sense of 
my duty to my Maker and my fellow-men. 

6. Sterling, unflinching integrity in all matters, public and 
private. Let every one do his whole duty each day both to 
God and man. Let him follow earnestly the teachings of the 
Scriptures and eschew infidelity in all its forms. 

v. Want of integrity, careless of the truth, reckless in 
thought and expression, want of trust in God and disregard of 
the teachings of his Word, bad company, bad morals in any of 
their phases. 

Hon. Benjamin Douglas, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Con- 
necticut, and manufacturer of pumps, Middletown, Ct. : 

1. Country. 

2. When not in school, I worked on the farm, doing gen- 



APPENDIX. 233 

eral farm work and chores, as our Connecticut farmers' boys 
had to do fifty years ago. 

5. '^A rolling stone gathers no moss." Have one good 
business, and stick to it. 

6. Be honest in all your dealings ; abstain from the use of 
all intoxicating drinks ; Remember the Sabbath day and keep 
it holy ; he a Christian. 

7. Rum, idleness, and neglect of business ; entering into 
operations outside of their regular 



David M. Stone, editor of the New York Journal of Com- 
merce : 

1. Country. 

2. T left home at thirteen years and eleven months, and have 
supported myself ever since. 

5. Do faithfully what is next to your hand. 

6. A purpose and determination to make one's self of use 
in the world in the way prudence seems to point out, and a 
knowledge of the fact that success comes only to those who 
can do three days' work in one day and keep it up through 
life. 

1. Laziness, indisposition to work hard, a desire to take 
things easy. 

W. K. Sullivan, editor of Chicago Journal : 

1. In a city. 

2. Never did regular work, but played all I could until I was 
sixteen, when I began to earn my own living. 

5. First, the Golden Rule ; second. An honest man is the 
noblest work of God ; third, Contentment is better than riches 
(and I am glad of it, for I never had the riches) ; fourth, Be 
just and fear not ; fifth, What man has done, man can do ; 
sixth, Never say die. 

6. General knowledge of men and things, an itch for writ- 
ing, a "nose for news," courage, enterprise, honesty, so- 
briety, patience, perseverance, industry, good judgment ; a 



234 APPENDIX. 

sound mind in a sound body ; to be born to the profession, for 
journalists, like poets, are " born, not made." 

7. Intemperance and immorality (wine and women) ; a desire 
to become suddenly rich, which leads to speculation and gam- 
bling ; a wrong start in life. (By the way, every boy should 
have a trade — be a producer, not a consumer. The next gen- 
eration promises to contain an alarming number of genteel loaf- 
ers, who don't want to earn their bread by the sweat of their 
brows, but by their wits. Idleness produces vice, etc.) 

A. G. Lane, Superintendent of Schools, Chicago ; 

1. Chicago. 

2. Yes. 

5. Never give up one job till you get another. 

6. Unswerving fidelity to God and the right, study and work. 

7. Laziness, pride, and dishonesty in little things. 

General O. O. Howard : 

1. Country. 

2. When out of school, worked regularly at farm work. 
Taught several schools in winter and fall to help in securing 
college education. 

5. First remembered maxim. Obey your parents in the Lord ; 
second. Seek first the kingdom of God ; third, The Lord is my 
Shepherd ; fourth (and help in conversion), The blood of Jesus 
Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin ; fifth, Bushnell's subject, 
*' Every man's life a plan of God ;" sixth. Love God and man. 

6. For complete success, cheerful obedience, diligence, fear- 
lessness ; readiness at all times for complete self-sacrifice ; un- 
reserved confidence in the Ruler of all things, so as to be able 
to bear victory or defeat ; to rise high enough in nobility of 
character to be without the fear, hatred, envy, or jealousy of a 
rival or an enemy. 

General John A. Logan, U. S. Senator : 

1. Country. 

2. I worked on a farm for my parents. 



APPEIS'DIX. 235 

5. All men are equal if upright and honest. Stick to your 
friends in adversity as well as prosperity. 

6. Unceasing labor. 

7. Trying to do too many things, instead of sticking to the 
thing one knows most about. 

General Neal Dow, ex-Mayor of Portland, Me., and author 
of Maine Law : 

1. In my native city — Portland. 

2. Not until I left school ; then in regular employment. 

5. Res non verba. Always try to be on the side of the right, 
always against the wrong. Always be prompt, and true to en- 
gagements and to well-founded expectations. Never to shrink 
from a just share of work or responsibility. 

6. To be industrious, steady, faithful, prompt, true. Busi- 
ness always before pleasure. Never put off until to-morrow 
what can be well done to-day. Incur no responsibility that 
cannot be met without distress. 

7. A want of knowledge of the business, or of ability, or of a 
character and habits to inspire confidence and respect. To be 
true to one's word is to a business or professional man what 
the compass is to the mariner. That implies integrity and a 
real love of right. 

Hon. Levi Taylor, banker and ex-Mayor of Haverhill, 
Mass. : 

6. A taste for the calling which one intends to pursue. 
Honesty of purpose and strict integrity in dealing I regard 
as essential elements of success in any calling or profession. 

7. Want of a thorough knowledge of the business, lack of 
application, and undue haste to accumulate, which usually leads 
to great risk, are among the principal causes of failure. 

Hon. J. E. Boyd, Mayor of Omaha : 
2. In regular work and helping my parents. 
5. " Take advantage of none, and give every man his due." 
Never fail to keep a promise. 



236 APPENDIX. 

6. Punctuality, industry, integrity, temperance. 

7. Intemperance and the inordinate gratification of their pas- 
sions. (I am not a Prohibitionist.) 

Samuel Burns, merchant, Omaha, Neb. : 

1. City. 

2. Always. 

5. Work, economize, persevere ; commit thy ways unto the 
Lord, and He will direct thy paths. 

" A purpose once fixed, and then victory or death." " Trust 
in the Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed." 

v. Vacillation, want of sticktoitativeness, becoming surety 
for a stranger. 

General A. C. McClurg, of the firm of A. C. McClurg 
& Co., Chicago: 

1. Altogether in a city. 

2. Did no regular work, but was fond of reading. 

5. First, It is better to deserve success than to have it ; 
second (for times of depression and adversity), the doctrine of 
the Greek tragedians — that the gods see no nobler sight than 
an honest man contending with adversity. 

6. Integrity, embracing perfect truthfulness, absolute hon- 
esty, and general trustworthiness ; good judgment, willingness 
and ability to work. 

Hon. George R. Wendling, lawyer and lecturer : 

1. Village. 

2. When out of school, engaged in work about home. 

5. A strict observance of the fourth commandment has been 
my nearest approach to singling out some one maxim or rule 
in business. 

6. An entire consecration and concentration of one's whole 
attention and ability on the matter in hand, and habits which 
do not injure physical health, and prayer. 

7. Living beyond one's means, and intemperance. 



APPENDIX. 237 

Anthony Comstock, agent of the Society for the Sappres- 
sion of Vice : 

1. Country. 

2. Was trained to industry, and obliged to work, and thank 
God for it. 

5. ** Faithful in least, faithful also in much." "God's 
will." "Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season ye 
shall reap if ye faint not." 

6. Consecration to the service of God ; perfect faith and 
trust in Him ; moral courage and untiring zeal. A good text : 
' ' Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. ' ' 

7. Unholy living and dishonest practices ; lust and intem- 
perance ; living beyond one's means. 

John Wanamaker, dry goods merchant: 

1. Country. 

2. During school days worked before school ; left country 
school early, and went to work. 

5. " He is a re warder of them that diligently seek Him." 
' ' Doe ye nexte thynge. ' ' 

6. Close application, integrity, attention to detail, discreet 
advertising. 

7. Going into business too young, overcrowding of business 
ranks. 

S. E. HoLDEN, leather dealer of the firm of B. F. Sawyer & 
Co., Napa, Cal. : 

5. "Be sure you are right, then go ahead." " Make every 
article reliable." 

6, Experience and education ; then courage and application, 
with honor and reliability. 

■7. Among professional men in California, intemperance; 
among business men, lack of enterprise and often lack of ability. 

Thomas J. Hill, manufacturer, Providence, R. I. : 
1. Village. 



338 APPENDIX. 

2. Out of school worked to help support the family. 

5. To be honest and industrious ; to put whatever I saw out 
of place in its proper place ; and above all, not to spend my 
money before I had earned it. 

6. To be very prompt in meeting engagements, and not put 
off until to-morrow what can be dune to-day. 

7. Lack of system and attention to business ; trusting too 
much to others, and not looking after the small details of busi- 
ness ; dissipation, extravagance, and idleness. Indorsing ac- 
commodation paper makes a failure many times in business. 

Lewis Miller, manufacturer, Akron, O. : 

1. On a farm close to a village. 

2. Working on a farm for my father. 

5. My early connection with the church did more than all 
else ; Henry Funk, a man I loved, was my model of goodness. 

6. Determination, pluck, and perseverance, 

v. Fluctuation of the national currency, our credit system, 
the popular notion of making a fortune in a short time. 

F. F. Elmendorf, President of National Law and Order 
League : 

1. Village. 

2. Light farm work outside of school hours. 

6. First, study to know what you are adapted to ; second, 
sticktoitiveness ; third, cultivate a healthy body, and thus get a 
healthy brain also. 

7. First, bad habits ; second, insufficient training for one's 
business ; third, extravagance ; fourth, speculation ; fifth 
passion to be rich without work ; sixth, postponing marriage 
on account of style of living ; then lust and other vices. 

Hon. D. F. Beatty, Mayor of Washington, N. J., and 
manufacturer of organs, etc. : 

1 . Country. 

2. On a farm. 



APPENDIX. 239 

6. First of all, remember God ; second; enterprise — look 
aliead, never backward. 

7. Neglect of business, rum, and women. 

Jacob Estey, organ manufacturer : 

1. In the country. 

2. I was given away by my parents at four and a half years 
of age, and was obliged to work hard on a farm from eight 
years old, with little schooling. 

6. I commenced business at twenty years of age, with a de- 
termination to succeed, and by economy and trusting God, 
praying for wisdom and strength to do every duty, and with 
good health, have been as successful as I could have expected. 
Secrets of success : Economy, avoid the use of tobacco and all 
stimulants, and bad company. 

v. Extravagance in living beyond one's means. 

Charles Scott, manufacturer, Philadelphia : 

1. Philadelphia. 

2. From my thirteenth year I was always engaged in some 
regular work when out of school, either for my parents or 
others. 

5. I joined the church when thirteen years old, and always 
considered it a duty to be doing something to help others. 

6. Consecration of life to God ; a determination to be useful 
in the world, so that the world may be better for his having 
lived in it ; always to h^ faithful and honest in all matters and 
under all circumstances. 

7. Bad company, bad habits, dishonesty in little things as 
well as great. 

J. E. Wilson, senior member of the firm of Wilson 
Brothers, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis : 

1. Country. 

2. Yes, for parents. 

5. *'i>o as you wish to be done hy.'''' " Honesty is the best 



240 APPENDIX. 

policy.'' ^'' Save a portion of every dollar earned.'''' ^^Meet 
all engagements at the minute.'''' 

6. First, adaptation ; second, industry ; third, unlimited 
credit with ver}^ limited use. 

1. Laziness, truthlessness , drunkenness, dishonesty. 

H. E. Simmons, business manager of American Tract Society : 

1. In a small village. 

2. Always at work for my parents until I was twenty-one 
years old. 

5. " Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." 

6. Strict honesty, diligent application to business, and no 
fear of hard work. 

7. Fast living, mental, spiritual, and bodily ; lack of atten- 
tion to the details of one's business. 

Lew. E. D arrow, banker. Corning, Iowa : 

1. Country. 

2. Regular work on farm, with school only in winter ; taught 
country school when seventeen. 

5. Depend on self and not on others. Take the Holy Spirit 
for a Guide and Helper. I will do my utmost each day. 

6. A fixed determination to do all he can, every day ; a firm 
reliance upon God, and a fixed purpose to serve Him. 

7. Lack of energy, failure to improve every moment, lack of 
strict integrity. 

Milton Bradley, publisher, Springfield, Mass. : 

1. Country village till ten ; city later. 

2. To a considerable extent evenings and vacations. 
6. " Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.'''' 

6. Good moral and religious character ; gumption, gumption, 
GUMPTION ; a practical and industrial education. 

7. Want of backbone, rum, lack of adaptability and proper 
training, anticipating prospective income, and living beyond 
one's means. 



APPENDIX. 241 

Colonel Weston Flint, U. S. Patent Office : 

1. In the country on a farm. 

2. Steady work always for my parents ; educated myself, 
and paid my way through college. 

5. " Honesty is the best policy." " Never be idle." A 
great, longing desire for an education, I think, had much to 
do with my success, and this I owe to my dear mother. 

6. First, honesty ; second, industry ; third, patience, simple 
habits, having definite objects in life — not drifting. 

J. H. Vincent, D.D., author, editor, lecturer : 

5. " Live near to God " — a counsel given me by my mother 
when I left home at sixteen. It was illustrated by my mother^ s 
daily life, and has kept me from much evil, and has had a 
measure of influence in holding me to general faith in Provi- 
dence and grace. 

6. An entire surrender of impulse and inclination to the 
demands of duty, as expressed and made possible in the life of 
Christ. 

Y. Living the life of the flesh, whether in low, sensual, or 
refined, aesthetic, and merely selfish gratification. 

Hon. a. W. Tenney, U. S. District Attorney for Brooklyn : 

1. In the country, on a farm. 

2. Yes, for my parents, until twenty-two years of age, con- 
stantly ; after that, until twenty-eight years of age, part of the 
time. 

5. None. 

6. Integrity, truthfulness, promptness, sobriety, patience, 
and hard work. 

V. Outside of intemperance, failure to grasp and hold, scat- 
tering too much, want of integrity and promptness, unwilling 
to achieve success by earning it in the old-fashioned way. 

E. P. Roe, author : 
1. Country. 



242 APPENDIX. 

2. My father kept me busy in a large garden and on a small 
farm (see my book, " Play and Profit in my Garden"). 

5. When a schoolboy I pasted the following in my books : 
*^ Perseverando vincam.''^ 

6. First, ability to write correctly, and clearly, acquired by 
patient, well-directed training ; second, ability to write inter- 
estingly and freshly ; third, sympathy with the subject we are 
writing about ; fourth, careful study of real men and women ; 
fifth, have some worthy purpose. 

7. First, little inaccuracies ; second, obscurity ; third, dul- 
ness ; fourth, lack of sympathy with one's themes ; fifth, self- 
conceit and self-satisfaction ; sixth, imitation of others ; 
seventh, a proud or selfish aim. 

J. R. Nichols, LL.D., editor of Journal of Chemistry : 

1. In the country. 

2. Always at work between school hours on a farm ; school 
term, ten weeks in winter. All the school I attended. 

5. Constant industry, dependence on my own unaided self, 
never to be discouraged, strict integrity, keeping promises, and 
saving earnings ; constant reading. 

6. Brains, industry, study, honesty, total abstinence, deter- 
mination. 

7. First, want of natural capacity (education alone does not 
fit a man for success) ; second, indolence and credulity ; third, 
lack of moral strength. 

Daniel Goodrich, manufacturer, Haverhill, Mass. : 

1. Country. 

2. Regular work out of school from very early boyhood. 

5. Stick resolutely to one pursuit, and put heart into every- 
thing you do. 

6. A practical knowledge of its details, and a strict oversight 
of the minutiae of business, not leaving it to disinterested parties. 

7. First, engaging in speculations outside of one's legitimate 
business ; second, indulging in immoral and vicious habits. 



APPEI^^DIX. 243 

" Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising 
every time we fall." 

Henry Martyn Dexter, D.D., editor of the Congrega' 
tionalist : 

1. In a country town. 

2. To some extent. 

5. I tliink, as to good books, '"'"Nocturna versate, versate 
diurna ;" and as to work, ^'' Nulla dies sine tinea.'' ^ 

6. These three : First, piety to get all and keep all in posi- 
tion ; second, patience to master all details ; third, persever- 
ance to carry all through. 

7. These three : First, want of thoroughness of preparation ; 
second, want of fixedness of purpose ; third, want of faith in 
the inevitable triumph of right and truth. 

W. C. Gray, D.D., editor of the Interior : 

1. In the country on a farm. 

2. Always hard at work when out of school, mostly on the 
farm. 

5. My father impressed upon me the idea that industry, 
perseverance, and integrity would certainly give me success. 

6. Fair talents, a thorough understanding of the business, 
and devotion to it. 

7. Aside from vices — which are always ruinous — the cause 
of nearly all the failures in legitimate business is the failure to 
serve an apprenticeship to it. A man is sure to fail in a busi- 
ness which he does not understand — divinity, law, medicine, or 
anything else. 

Lyman Abbott, D.D., editor of Christian Union: 

1. Village and boarding-school. 

2. No ; my time was spent in study. 

5. " Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy 
might. ' ' 

6. Study how to do the most good, and let the pay tak^ care 
of itself. 



244 APPENDIX. 

7. The combined spirit of laziness and self-conceit that 
makes a man unwilling to do anything unless he can choose just 
what he will do. 

Robert West, D.D. , publisher and editor of the Advance: 

1. In the country. 

2. I worked on a farm — fourteen hours a day in summer 
and twelve in winter. 

6. Early to bed, early to rise ; plain food, good conscience, 
good humor, honest work at anything one has to do, self-help, 
and prayer. 

7. Idleness, carelessness, waiting for opportunities, expeci- 
ing some one to help them to a place, and lack of faithfulness 
in humble places. 

William Hayes Ward, D.D., editor of the Independent : 

1. Village. 

2. Worked in garden, etc., but most of time studying at 
home. 

5. None in particular ; as much as any, the phrases, ' ' Don't 
be afraid of work or suffering," " Endure hardness as a good 
soldier." 

6. Miscellaneous and accurate knowledge ; well-founded opin- 
ions on as many subjects as possible, and absolute candor ; 
poverty. 

7. Intemperance, self-gratification in pleasure, unwillingness 
to work persistently and ' ' endure hardness. ' ' 

John M. Ferris, D.D., editor of the Intelligencer : 

1. Cities. 

2. My father brought my brother and myself up to work at 
whatever was to be done about the house. 

5. Do with your might what God gives you to do 

6. A godly character above everything ; to do his work 
thoroughly, intelligently ; a high and constant regard for the 
interests of others. 



APPEiq-DIX. 345 

7. A want of high moral and religious character, a lack of 
hard work, wasting effort on illegitimate pursuits. 

Eben Tourjee, Mus. D., New England Conservatory of 
Music, Boston : 

1 . Country. 

2. Began work at eight years ; not one third of the time 
m school ; went to a " trade" at fourteen. 

4. Otice ; that was enough for all time ! 

5. To honor God was the first, and has been the supreme law 
of my life from my earliest years. 

6. Consecration to God, consecration to work, consecration 
to study. 

7. Absence of principle, leading to dishonesty and dissipa- 
tion. 

Hon. Francis Hendrick, ex-Mayor of Syracuse, N. Y. : 

1 . Country. 

2. Farm work. 

6. Character, industry ; to be born right. 

7. A desire to get rich fast, speculation, and overreaching. 
Half fail on account of vices. 

E. B. JuDSON, President of First National Bank of Syracuse, 
N. Y. : 

1. Village. 

2. At twelve years began self-support. 

6. Prudent and saving, industrious, honest. 
Y. Living beyond income, speculation, vices. 

R. M. Bingham, Rome, N. Y., carriage manufacturer : 

1. Country. 

2. Yes, at farm work. 

3. Sixteen. 

5. Aim to excel. 

6. Thorough knowledge of business, attention to detail, per* 
Beverance, and economy. 



M6 APPENDIX. 

7. Bad habits ; disposition to float down stream being easier 
than to row up ; lack of appreciation of the opportunities of 
life ; courage and effort are required to go to the front, while 
the cowardly and self-indulgent easily fall to the rear, and then 
have a harder time than would be necessary to maintain the 
front. The " rear," easiest to get, is the most uncomfortable 
and the most crowded. 

Ellis H. Roberts, editor of Utica Herald ; 

1. In Utica. 

2. From nine years old until eighteen, at least twelve hours 
a day. 

3. Nine years. 

5. Excelsior. 

6. Integrity, diligence, courtesy. 

1. Drink, extravagance, shiftlessness. 

Dr. Edmund Andrews, Chicago : 

1. I was bred in the country. 

2. Worked every summer on a farm. 

3. Came to self-support gradually. 

5. I used maxims somewhat to vent my ideas (to myself) 
in a condensed form, but attribute much more effect to the 
ideas themselves than to the expression in maxim form. 

6. Righteousness, sound judgment, industry. (However, 
these three things are reciprocally parts of each other. To 
speak of them as separate things would be erroneous.) 

Hon. W. C. De Pauw, New Albany, Ind. : 

1. Village. 

2. From my earliest recollection, I was taught and required 
to labor. 

6. Golden Rule ; touch not, taste not, handle not whis- 
key or tobacco ; promptness, with intelligent, regular applica- 
tion. 



APPENDIX. 247 

7. Whiskey and licentiousness, gaming and idleness, want 
of truthfulness in business, especially in buying and selling. 

Dr. N. S. Davis, Chicago : 

1. On a farm. 

2. Always employed in doing work on the farm when not in 
school. 

5. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." " What- 
soever thy hand findethto do, do it with thy might." "Perse- 
verantia omnia vincit.^^ 

6. A thorough knowledge of the profession itself ; a strong 
and honest desire to do good to othei^s ; steadiness of purpose, 
with promptness and fidelity in all worlc. 

Y. Narrow selfishness and haste to be rich ; unsteadiness of 
purpose and lack of knowledge ; deficient in both moral integ- 
rity and industry. 

George H. Corliss, inventor of Corliss Engine, Provi- 
dence, R. I. : 

1. In a village. 

2. Was accustomed to helping my parents from very early 
life, and taking upon myself some small cares and responsibili- 
ties, which occupied me more or less out of school hours. 

3. At the age of sixteen years. 

6. Brains, habitual and persistent industry, self-reliance. 

7. Self-indulgence, want of a steady and definite purpose, 
lack of brains. 

G. W. Pack, photographer, New York. : 

1. For the most part in a city. 

2. Worked out of school hours. 

3. Fifteen years. 

5. "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." 

6. Thorough study, close observation, and doing work on a 
cash basis. 

1. Inattention to business, giving credit, indorsing for 
" friends," negligence of business. 



348 APPEIS'DIX. 

Clement Studebaker, wagon manufacturer, South Bend, 
Ind. : 

1. In the country. 

2. When out of school I was always at work, to provide for 
myself and aid in the support of the family ; when in school, 
which I could only attend during the winter season, I worked 
for some farmer mornings and evenings to pay for my board. 

6. I was early familiar with the leading maxims of the day, 
and always felt inspired by them, but kept no particular one 
especially in view. It was my ambition to succeed, and the 
essentials to which I particularly pinned my faith in striving to 
this end were, entire abstinence from the use of either tobacco 
or liquor, industry, persistence of effort, patience, and economy 
of time and money. 

6. First, let him thoroughly acquaint himself with the busi- 
ness engaged in, not merely in its general outlines, but in its 
details ; second, let him determine to make good goods, the 
reputation of which will be cumulative as the years go by ; 
third, let him give his affairs his undivided personal attention ; 
fourth, let him, while at all times exercising reasonable conser- 
vatism, be on the alert to take advantage of opportunities for 
increasing and enlarging his business ; fifth, let him look well 
to the character of the assistants with which he surrounds him- 
self ; sixth, let him guard well against wastefulness ; seventh, 
let him live well within his income. 

7. Inattention to business ; extravagance in living, especially 
dissipation in the matter of strong drink, which depletes the 
pocket and ruins the brain ; and anxiety to get rich too fastj 
^hich finds outgrowth in wild and illegitimate speculation. 

Professor Homer B. Sprague, of Boston : 

1. Country. 

2. Yes. 

5. " Wisdom is the principal thing." 

" They are slaves who dare not be 
In the right with two or three." 



APPENDIX. 249 

" I will lay down my life to serve my country : I will not do a 
base thing to save it. ' ' 

6, For true success m teaching, there is need of — first, a love 
of knowledge ; second, a love of mankind ; third, a spirit of 
consecration and self-sacrifice. 

7. Ill-health ; mistake in the choice of employment ; lack of 
persistent and protracted effort ; a low ideal, making success to 
consist in personal aggrandizement rather than in the training 
and development of a pure and noble character. 

0. G. Peters, of Columbus Bnggy Company, Columbus, O. : 

1. City. 2. Accustomed to sawing wood, carrying coal, and 
doing chores about half the time ; balance of the time could 
play around home. 

3. Began business about sixteen years of age, but was eigh- 
teen before I was able to support myself. 

6. The birth-given qualities, such as ambition, prudence, 
caution, fear of had results ; also thoroughness. Most impor- 
tant of all, conversion at the early age of seventeen. About 
this period lies the turning point for better or worse in a young 
man's life. 

7. Lack of birth-given qualities, or lack of training ; not 
being well balanced ; lack of thoroughness and depth of 
thought ; neglect of Christian influence, which results in bad 
associations and prevents the development of the religious and 
thereby the manly character. 

Hon. George F. Edmunds, Acting Vice-President : 

My boyhood was spent in the country, and I was engaged in 

work on my father's farm, when I was not fishing or hunting, 

during intervals between schools. 



Ex-Vice-President : 



1. City. 2. Yes. 

5. My favorite mottoes, oft-repeated to others 



MO APPENDIX. 

•• Count that day lost wliose low-descending sun 
Views from thy hand no worthy action done." 

Also : ' ' Spare moments the gold-dust of time. ' ' 

6. Principle. Energy, in which I include persistent applica- 
tion. Total abstinence, both from intoxicants and from gam- 
bling. Economy, including avoidance of debt. Study, till 
every detail is mastered. 

7. Extravagance, including buying on expectations what can- 
not be paid for promptly. Pride and desire for show beyond 
one's means or sphere. Instability, and lack of persistent ap- 
plication and industry. Lack of appreciation of the value of 
time. Too many irons in the fire equally injudicious. Tip- 
pling and gambling and the evils born of them — profanity. Sab- 
bath-breaking, etc. Cynicism, backbiting, and lack of suaviter 
in modo. 

Hon. John D. Long, ex-Governor of Massachusetts : 

1. Village. 2. Some. 

3. At graduation, eighteen years of age. 

Hon. Henry B. Pierce, Secretary of State of Massachu- 
s?etts : 

1. Village. 2. Parents being poor, worked in shop sum- 
mers from twelve years of age, and went to school winters. 

5. Political affairs should be conducted on business prin- 
ciples. 

Hon. David A. Gleason, Massachusetts State Treasurer : 
1. City. 2. Parents being well to do, time was devoted to 
education until graduation from college. 

Hon. W. F. Spaulding, Prison Commissioner of Massa- 
chusetts : 

1. City. 3. Had my time for study until sixteen, when I 
went into a store as a clerk. 



APPENDIX. 251 

Dr. Wolcott, of Massachusetts State Board of Health : 
1. Country. 2. Parents being wealthy, spent time in study 
and recreation until graduation from college. 

Hon. C. Curry, Bank Commissioner of Massachusetts : 

1. Country. 2. Parents being in comfortable circumstances, 
did no work except a little gardening and chores. 

3. Entered business at fifteen, beginnmg at the bottom and 
working up. 

6. Integrity, promptness, and attention to business. 

Hon. Charles E, Russell, Secretary of Massachusetts State 
Board of Agriculture : 

1. Village. 2. No. Parents being wealthy, had time for 
study and recreation. 

Hon. Robert R. Bishop, President of Massachusetts State 
Senate : 

1. Country. 2. Yes, always. 3. At twenty-one. 

Hon. George A. Marden, Speaker of Massachusetts House 
of Representatives : 

1. Village. 2. Yes ; shoemaking about all the extra time 
there was. 

3. Went to Dartmouth College at sixteen, and paid my way. 

6. Industry, honesty, persistence, and courage. 

7. Intemperance, want of application, misfortunes for which 
men are not responsible. 

Hon. John D. Page, ex-Governor of Vermont : 
1. Village. 2. Worked on a farm. 

Hon. Enoch L. Fancher, lawyer, New York : 
1. Country. 2. Worked for parents. 

W. E. Gould, banker, Portland, Me. : 

1. City. 2. Yes, after thirteen years old. 3. Sixteen. 



252 APPEN^DIX. 

J. B. Webster, of the firm of R. H. Macy & Co., N. Y. : 
1. Village. 2. Yes. 3. Fifteen. 

Hon. Amos Barstow, bank president, Providence, R. I. : 
1. Village. 3. Went into business at fourteen. 
5. Get your rest by change of work. 

Philo Parsons, bank president, Detroit, Mich. : 
1. Country. 2. Worked from the age of eight years most 
of the time. 

5. " Live generously within your means." 

Hon. W. W. Thomas, bank president (oldest bank president 
in the State), Portland, Me. : 

1. City. 3. Began business life in a store at fourteen. 

H. J. LiBBY, bank president, Portland, Me. : 

1. Village. 2. Yes ; in a large garden out of school hours. 

3. Went into store at eighteen. 

Hon. George F. Magoun, D.D., President of Iowa College, 
Grinnell : 

1. Village. 2. Yes. 3. Twenty-three. 

A. L. Chapin, D.D., President of Beloit College, Wis. : 
1. City. 2. Yes. 3. Have mostly supported myself since 
I entered college at sixteen. 

William Brooks, President of Tabor College, Iowa : 

1. Country. 2. Worked on a farm. 

5. The fact that my parents consecrated me to God in in- 
fancy and expressed a desire that I should get a liberal educa- 
tion had a great influence upon me. 

Rev. Dr. Hill, Portland, Me., ex-President of Antioch 
College and Harvard University : 



APPENDIX. 253 

1. City. 2. Being an orphan, had to work early as an ap- 
prentice to a printer. 

Franklin Fairbanks, manufacturer of standard scales, Sto 
Johnsbury, Vt. : 

1. Country. 2. Worked when out of school, and vacations. 

3. Began business at seventeen, at the bottom, at five dollars 
per month and expenses. Learned every part of the business 
except blacksmithing. 

5. Do well whatever you do. 

Philip L. Moen, wire manufacturer, Worcester, Mass. : 
1. Country. 3. Went into a store at seventeen, and began 
at the bottom. 

J. N. Harris, bank president. New London, Conn. : 
1. Country. 2. Worked on a farm. 5. I'll never work 
Sunday. 

T. W. Harvey, ex-President of Chicago Y. M. C. A. : 

1. Village. 2. Worked from six years old until this day. 

3. Eleven. 5. Faithful service when employed ; no work 
too hard ; no hours or day too long ; no work too menial, if 
honorable ; live within income ; never borrow of or use money 
of my employer under any circumstances. 6. Work, love 
work, work systematically, both in school and in business. 
The crying demand in all business houses is for men who will 
cheerfully get under the burdens and eventually take the busi- 
ness, v. Failure to work when young and master the details 
of business. Little tricks in trade. Deceiving customers and 
friends. 

Be so honest and plucky that when hard times come your 
creditor or banker will not go back on you. 

Professor C Brown Goode, Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D. C. : 
1. Country. 2. No. 



254 APPENDIX. 

6. ' ' Put yourself in his place. " " Never do anything too 
well." " Never do yourself what you can get some one else to 
do." " Be short, or else you will be tiresome. " " There are 
people beyond the mountains." '* Never start upon an under- 
taking until you are sure it is practicable and ought to be done, 
and then let nothing stand in the way of completing it. ' ' 

6. First, a power of minute observation and of broad gen- 
eralization from facts observed ; second, a strong vitality and 
power of work coupled with a natural bent for science ; third, 
special scientific training. 

7. First, inherited weakness of body and mind ; second, 
lack of education (not meaning lack of schooling) ; third, lack 
of definite purpose and of power to direct one's own energies 
or those of others. 

J. S. Smithson, Chicago, 111. : 

1. City. 2. I had to do what my parents ordered, and was 
taught self-help. 5. "Be just, and fear not." 

6. Steady application, or, as your late President Lincoln 
said, " Pegging at it. " The constant habit of prayer, seek- 
ing God's wisdom and guidance, submitting the smallest trans- 
action to God : for years I have always carried this out, and let 
my clerks know I did, asking them to do so with me. I can 
vouch that even vessels that were anxiously wanted and were out 
beyond their time have frequently come just at the right time, 
I believe because God heard prayer. Want of steady applica- 
tion, yielding to the world's way of doing business. " Get 
money ; honestly if you can, but get money" is as complete a 
" will-o'-wisp" as the devil ever invented. The dishonoring 
of God's day, I have noticed, is visited with disapproval on 
God's part. Drink has been a fruitful source of failure. They 
who honor God, God will honor them. 

John Dougall, publisher of the Witness, New York : 

1. In the country, near a town in Scotland. 

2. I did considerable work in errands, chores, and in a gar- 



APPENDIX. 255 

den, but most of the time out of school was spent in ^' running 
about the hraes^'' and reading. 

6. A great taste for reading books, periodicals, and news- 
papers, and a desire to write prose and poetry for them, with 
frequent efforts at authorship. 

7. Drinking, immorality, extravagance, gambling, fickleness, 
and unreliability. Also overtrading and lack of judgment in 
giving credit. 

J. N. Hallock, publisher and editor of Christian at Work : 
1. Country. 2. Yes, for my parents. 

5. "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." 

6. A liberal education, temperance, honesty, promptness, 
and careful attention to business. 

Horace Waters, piano manufacturer. New York : 
1. Country. 2. Worked on the farm. 3. At sixteen. 

5. Work and vote as you talk and pray. 

6. Strict integrity, close attention, sticktoitiveness. 

7. Drinking and tobacco, lack of integrity. 

W. J. Bacon, lawyer, Utica, New York : 

1. Village. 2. No. 3. At twenty-one. 

6. Hard study, discipline in extemporaneous speaking, con- 
scientious business pursuits. 

v. Bad habits, idleness and evil associates, corrupting litera- 
ture. 

Dr. J. Russell Taber, Brooklyn : 

1. Country. 2. Yes, generally eight to nine hours per day. 

3. I taught school at sixteen, and afterward to earn money 
to get my professional education ; began practice at twenty- 
two. 

6. " Never say fail." 

6. Thorough preparation, tact, perseverance, and economy. 

v. IneflBciency, immoral habits and conduct, unwise choice 
of business or profession. 



356 APPENDIX. 

Edmund Titus, Brooklyn : 

1. Country. 2. Worked regularly on tlie farm for my 
father ; had an interest and traded a little in stock. 
3. At twenty-one. 

6. Close attention to business ; always live within your in- 
come ; a good Christian and practical wife. 

7. Not keeping abreast with knowledge and conviction ; ex- 
travagance in living, intemperance, and worldly pursuits. 

J. M. Phillips, of Phillips & Hunt, publishers, New York : 
1. Country. 2. Not regularly. 3. At fifteen. 

5. None. But my dead mother's influence kept me from 
evil places by the thought that she might see me in wrong- 
doing. 

6. Common-sense, attention to business. 

7. Lack of patience to work and wait. 

5. Hunt, D.D. (of Phillips & Hunt), New York : 
1. Country. 2. Farm work. 3. At twenty-one. 

6. Honesty, intelligence, piety. 

7. Spending more than one has to spend. 

J. N. Stearns, Corresponding Secretary of National Tem- 
perance Society, New York : 

1. Country. 2. On the farm, from five in the morning till 
nine at night — in summer. 

5. " Toil and hope," in early life. " Do all you can for 
the blessed Redeemer" was my father's dying message. 

6. Courage to say " No," close application, " sticktoitive- 
ness, " love for the work, and faith in Cod. 

7. Lack of early piety, laziness, smoking and drinking 
habits, reading story-books, fault-finding at home. 

Captain C. C. Duncan, U. S. Commissioner, Brooklyn, 
N. Y. : 

1. Early in a village, later at sea, 2. Had to work to sup- 
port parents, and didn't go to school much. 



APPENDIX. 257 

5. To make myself so useful that my employers couldn't 
do without me. 

6. Self-dependence, living within the income, honesty, 
temperance, industry, good companions. 

7. Want of care in selecting occupation, lack of applica- 
tion, shirking drudgery, evil companions, extravagance, 
intemperance. 

Dk. Oscar 0. DeWolf, Health Commissioner, Chicago : 
1. Country. 2. Worked regularly at farm labor, when 
not at school, untix seventeen years old. 

6. Adaptability, culture, industry, good habits. Success 
can never be of high order if either is wanting. (By 
"culture" I mean general and special education.) 

7. Mistake in choosing occupation. All boys — farmers 
excepted — should learn a trade and be capable of supplying 
skilled labor if necessity comes. Such labor is always in 
demand, while a thousand classically educated men can be 
found in this city who would be glad to labor for two dol- 
lars and a half per day. Many of them are in real need, 

L. C. Taber, Syracuse, N. Y. : 

1. Country. 2. Farm work. 3. At nineteen. 

6. Good moral habits, honesty ; seek a business for which 
he is adapted, and not change often. 

7. Bad habits, frequent changes. 

0. H. Swan, lumber-dealer, Chicago : 

1. Village. 2. Yes. 

5. '' Keep every promise.'" "As you are at forty years, 
so you will be to the end of life," " Fear God, and keep 
his commandments." 

6. Punctuality and truthfulness. 

7. Anxiety to become suddenly rich. 

Z. C. Keith, manufacturer, Campello, Mass.; 
1. Village. 2. Yes, for my parents. 



258 APPENDIX. 

5. " A rolling stone gathers no moss," oft repeated by 
my mother, fixed the danger of changefulness in my mind; 
hence my eighteen years^ steady application without change 
of location. 

6. Square, honest dealing; strict attention to business; 
a pleasant address, and perseverance. 

7. Expensive habits, intemperance, and speculation. 

Zii^A Case, manufacturer, Brockton, Mass. : 
1. Country farm. 3. Yes. 

5. Spend less than you make. 

6. Never extend your business beyond your means, but 
as your means increase extend your business. Economy 
and diligence, it seems to me, are the mainsprings to success. 

7. When men begin to accumulate money, outside specu- 
lations seem to offer great inducements to a more sudden 
fortune, and by this one cause, I think, more men fail than 
by almost any other. 

GoEDOH BuECHARD, Brooklyn: 

1. Village. 2. Was always helpful to my parents, as 
they were of limited means. 

5. A favorite maxim of my father, " Boys, always pay a 
hundred cents on the dollar." He did that during the em- 
bargo of 1812-15. Another one, "Every tub must stand 
on its own bottom." 

6. Sobriety, industry, fixedness — not a rolling stone, 
which gathers no moss; determination for success; good 
company. Find a pleasant home and the society of modest 
and Christian young women on coming to the city. 

7. First, drink; scores of young men in my employ, 
besides a number of my business associates, have gone upon 
this rocJc. In its train follow the theatre, houses of ill-fame, 
etc., all connected. I have been an eye-witness to this for 
over forty years of active business life in Brooklyn and 
New York. I am now seventy. 



APPENDIX 259 

JoHis" L. Webster, lawyer, Omalia, Neb. : 
1. Country. 2. In farm work for parents. 

6. Close attention to business and hard study. 

7. Want of attention to business, want of integrity, and 
lack of hard study. 

Dr. 0. S. Wood, Omaha: 

1. Partly in a village, and partly in the country. 

2. I had to earn my own living after eight and a half years 
old, and all the schooling I got up to sixteen was three 
months in winter in a country school. Father died when 
I was eight; after that I made my own home. 

6. Strict integrity : to understand his profession, and stick 
to it. 

7. Lack of stability and application. 

Frank Foxcroft, literary editor of Boston Journal : 
1. Most of it in the city. 2. No. 3. Twenty-one. 

6. Conscience, brains, tact. 

7. Intemperance, worry, overwork, and hurry. 

Professor Theodore F. Seward, editor of Tonic Sol 
Fa Advocate, N. Y. : 

1. Country. 2. Worked on the farm for my father. 3. 
At twenty-one. 

5. " He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful 
also in much." 

6. Faith in God, the strictest honesty, a consideration for 
the feelings and interests of others. 

7. Lack of faith in God ; selfishness, which dwarfs the 
nature, and blinds one to his own best interests; alack of 
downright, through-and-through honesty. 

Note. — Answers to questions 4 and 8 are mostly omitted for 
reasons, and other answers also in some cases. Only a small propor- 
tion of the replies are given. 



EXTRACTS FROI^r OTHER REPLIES. 

Hon. John Sherman : 6. Early respousibility. At fifteen years 
of a^e was put iu charge of a job of railroad eugiueering, iuvolviug 
$300.000 — a developlngrespousibility. Self-improvemeut byreadiug 
duriug leisure hours. "Thorough study of the subject iu baud, and at 
the same time koepiug up Avith" questions of the day. 

Hon. William E. Dodge : 1. In the country until thirteen. 2. 
Then at work in the store of which I finallj"- became proprietor. 
(See Topical Index.) 

George B. Leonard, banker, Syracuse: 7. Starting without a defi- 
nite idea of what is to be done. 

Hon. D. Ward NoRTiiRrr, ex-Probate Judge, Middletown, Ct. : 
6. In the legal profession I believe that patient industry, thorough ap- 
plication to details, and fairness are superior to brilliancy and sharp- 
ness. 

W. H. Whitehead, Chicago: 
stead of business principles. 

Samuel Wilde, New York : 5. "He that hasteth to be rich shall 
not be innocent." ** He that loveth pleasure shall not be rich." 7. 
A man, like a ship at sea, well managed, may be overwhelmed with 
disaster; but leaving out such cases, my observation has been that 
ambition to do too much, despising the day of small things, has 
wrecked many. Living beyond one's means and outside speculations 
have wrecked yet others. 

Deacon Farnsworth, Boston : 6. Prudence, determination, and 
faith iu God. 

Bernard Peters, Journalist: 5. Liberal, but cautious; enterpris- 
ing, but careful. 

Thomas Gill, Manufacturer of Borax Soap, New York. : 6. 
Keep no clock-watchers as clerks or workmen. 

H. J. Heinz, Pittsburg. Delicatessen Manufacturer, President Alle- 
gheny County Sunda^'-school Association: 1. In a village. 2. As- 
sisted my parents. 3. "Began business life for myself at age of 21, but 
had been self-supporting for several years previous. 4. No. 5. "Seek 
the good in everything." " Have an open mind." "Be ambitious to 
do a little better than you promised." " IMake all you can honestly. 
Save all you can prudently. Give all you can wisely." "Select 
good associations, for 'evil* associations corrupt good morals.*" 6. 
in my opinion the essential elements of success in any business are 
love for work, mastering of details, a disposition to strike for sixteen 
hours per day while oUiers are striking for eight, thereby having 
twice as much time for one's business as others. 7. A lack of the 
things enumerated under question six, and being content to do as 
well as some other fellow instead of having an ambition to excel. 

260 



EXTRACTS FROM OTHER REPLIES. 261 

Hon. John D. Long, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, ex- Secretary 
of the Navy: 1. Small country village in Maine. 2. Chores, driving ' 
and milking cows, chopping wood, care of horse. 3. Began teaching 
at 18, after graduation from college. 4. No. 6. Courage, industry, 
courtesy, honesty, system, promptness, pure habits, association with 
the best, avoidance of whatever demoralizes, but also of being a prig. 
Good, healthy participation in all good, wholesome, cheery things. 7. 
Laziness, bad habits, rum, lack of system and promptness, looseness 
of moral and business responsibility, dishonesty, bad manners. 

Hon. William J. Bryan, Orator, Editor, Presidential Candidate: 
1. Lived in country, a mile from town, from 6 to 23, but was in col- 
lege nine months of each year after 16. 2. Did chores and worked on 
farm at home, and did some work for pay while in college. Took 
care of office of Lyman Trumbull while in law school. 3. 23. 4. 
No. 5. The Book of Proverbs, more than any other containing 
maxims. 6. Honesty, industry, and sympathy with the common 
people. 7. Dishonesty, idleness, bad habits, and selfishness. 

Hon. L. E. McComas, Washington, D. C, ex-Judge, ex-Senator: 
1. On a farm. 2. No regular work. 3. After graduation at college, 
at 19 years of age. 4. No. 

Hon. Martin A. Knapp, Washington, D. C, Chairman Interstate 
Commerce Commission : 1, In the country. 2. Yes, ordinary farm 
work. 3. At about 24, and soon after leaving college. 4. No. 5, 
I could not say that any particular maxim had a ' ' strong influence," 
though one often in mind was this: "Whatever is worth doing at all 
is worth doing well." 6. Uprightness, industry, and aptitude for that 
vocation. 7. Mainly the lack of the above-m<jntioned qualities, 
though this does not seem to be an adequate explanation. Oppor- 
tunity does not always come, can not always be made. Besides, un- 
der existing conditions, I do not see quite how there can be the so- 
called success of some without the so called failure of others. 

Hon. Cakboll D. Wright, Worcester, Mass., President Clark 
College, formerly IT. S. Commissioner of Labor : 1. Country. 2. 
For parents — farm work. 3. At 18. 4. No. 5. Hard work, and 
do the duty of the day. 6. Hard work. 7. Lack of equipment and 
lack of capital. 

Hon. F. H. Gillett, Springfield, Mass., Member of Congress: 
1. In a village, 2. No, except in a garden. 3. At about 23. 4. No. 

Rev. R. S. MacArthur, D.D. , Pastor Calvary Baptist Church, 
N. Y., Author, Lecturer : 1. In the country. 2. Making myself 
useful in light duties about the house. 3. Not fully until I entered 
the ministry at 27, but did some work in a village store for a few 
years before entering college. 4. No. 5. The controlling principle of 
my life since I made a public profession of religion, and especially since 
I entered upon study for the ministry, and still more especially since I 
entered the ministry, is the law formulated by our Lord in Matthew x: 
39: "He that findeth his life shall loseit; and he that loseth hislife for 
my sake shall find it." 6. For success in any profession, I would name 
as essentials: good health, high ideals, bard work, and noble charac- 
ter ; these essentials include capacity, economy, industry, and char- 
acter. 7. The absence of all, or at least some, of the qualities named 
above. 



362 EXTKACTS FROM OTHER REPLIES. 

Mk. Joshua L. Bailey, Philadelphia, Pa., Wholesale Merchant, 
ex-President National Temperance Society : 1. In a city — Philadel- 
phia. 2. No regular work, but was taught and expected to be ever 
ready " to lend a hand." 3. On leaving school, at the age of 15. 4. 
No, and never. 5. " If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." 
Also the following words, which I heard from the lips of Louis Kos- 
suth , as he spoke on the steps of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 
in 1851, and which have been a constant stimulus to me : "There is 
no difficulty to him who wills." 6. Steadiness of purpose, persist- 
ence, industry, tact, and unswerving integrity. 7. The absence of 
the above-mentioned qualities. 

Mr. E. J. Wheeler, New York City, Editor and Author: 1. 
Paitly in a village, partly in large towns and small cities. 2. Yes. 
3. The age of 20, after graduation from college. 4. No. 5. No one 
conspicuously influential, 6. Love for the work, patience with its 
drudgery, a capacity for enthusiasm, an open and clean mind, good 
personal habits. 7. Mind on something else outside office hours; fear 
of doing more work than is paid for; lack of enthusiasm in and love 
for the work; self indulgence. 

Mr. Samuel Hamilton, Pittsburg, Pa., Merchant: 1. Born on a 
farm; removed to City of Pittsburg at age of 2 years; lived here ever 
since. 2. Never missed an opportunity to earn something, however 
hard the labor for a child, up to 12 years of age. 3. At about 12. In 
first twenty years of business worked much of the time from 7 a.m. 
to midnight. 4. Yes, but not to any extent. 5. Not having many 
books, the Bible supplied much of my reading. Memorizing it early 
in life, mostly for prizes in Sunday-school, it became and is my 
" counselor," and whatever of success I have had in life I owe to its 
teachings and maxims. It is literally "a lamp to the feet and a light 
to the path." Have been Sunday-school superintendent 38 years. 6. 
Tithing of money and time; honesty with God as in a partnership with 
man ; industr}^, enthusiasm, and sticking to one business or profession, 
and, above all, taking God at his word. 7. Inability to stand alone, 
selfishness, want of method, moral stamina (cannot say No), endors- 
ing, want of industry and forethought, sometimes overwork, causing 
nervous breakdown and loss of grip. Tithing is a great safeguard 
against most of these, as it takes God into all plans, and has to do 
with our neighbor. 

Mr. John S, Huyler, New York City, Manufacturer. 1. In 
village and city. 2. Yes. 3. 14 years. 4. Yes. 5. The answer by 
a successful business man to an inquiry as to how he found business, 
he replied, "About as I have a mind to make it." 6. Principles, 
and attention to details generally considered too small for serious 
consideration. 

Mr. Samuel W. Bowne, New York City, Manufacturer: 1. My 
boyhood was spent on a farm, attending school and academy until I 
was 16, when my father died and left me in charge of the farm, 
which I managed to the best of my ability, teaching the district 
school in winter time till I was 19. 2. Till my father died I helped 
on the farm when not in school. 3. I left the farm and earned my 
own living after I was 19. 4. I did not use tobacco before the age of 
16. 5. I desire to say that my principle in life has been never to con- 
tract debts that I could not pay. When I engaged in my present 



EXTRACTS FROM OTHER REPLIES. 263 

business, about 30 years ago, my partner and myself (who had little 
or no capital) decided to save one-half our income, which we did for 
a number of years, which gave us the foundation for our future suc- 
cess in business. 6. The success of a business like mine depends 
upon having an eye single to one purpose, and using all the brains 
and energy one has in that particular line; and then, if the article 
presented to the public has genuine merit, success is almost invari- 
ably assured. Of course, the art of advertising or presenting to the 
public is very essential to a great success. 7. My observation has 
been that one of the main causes of failure in commercial life is in 
not keeping the accounts thoroughly, and knowing exactly one's 
financial condition, and taking risks in things outside of one's legiti- 
mate business, which jeopardizes the capital required in the business. 
In professional life failure often results from the attempt to do too 
many things, instead of concentrating efforts in special lines to which 
one is peculiarly adapted. 

Mr. Edward "W. Bok, Philadelphia, Pa., Editor. 1. At Helder, 
a seaport town in Holland, until 6 years of age; since then in New 
York and Brooklyn. 2. Yes, always ; sold newspapers, drinking- 
water on street cars in summer ; published a magazine later. 3. 
At 13 years of age. 4. Afraid I did. 6. Love work for the sake of 
your work and not for the money in it, and consider that something 
difficult is simply something to overcome. 7. Lack of concentration 
and dread of hard work. 

Mr. Frederic L. Chapman, Chicago, Publisher of Ram's Horn. 
1. Country until 10; small city until 20. 2. Always worked. Was 
out of school entirely and working between 13 and 20. Then to 
college. 3. At 13. 4. No. 5. Get right with God. Do it now ! 
6. Thorough preparation. Constant concentration. "This one 
thing I do." 7. Not planning far enough ahead. Not being willing 
to sacrifice temporary luxuries for future abundance. 

Key. Randolph H. McKim, D.D., Washington, D. C, Rector 
Church of Epiphamy, President Episcopal House of Delegates: 1. 
In the suburbs of a city — a rural home of 15 acres. 2. No. 3. 
Entered army at 19, after leaving university. Entered ministry at 22 
as chaplain. Have supported myself since. 4. No. Have never 
used it since 18 years of age. 5. The teachings of Jesus Christ. 6. 
Sincerity, consecration, loyalty to Christ, love of mankind. 7. Vacil- 
lation of purpose; lack of strong moral principle; ambition to get 
rich quick; love of illicit pleasure. 

Mr. C. N. Howard, Rochester, N. Y., Manufacturer and Lec- 
turer : 1. My boyhood was spent partly in the country, partly in 
villages from 200 to 3,000 population, and partly in a city of 40,000, 
from one to two years in each. 2. I began to work at a very early 
age. The family was large, and the people where my father was pas- 
tor were very poor. School was neglected for work to clothe myself 
and contribute to the family support. 3. I began clerking at a gen- 
eral store at the age of 12. At 14 I left home, supporting myself 
and sending money to the family. 4. I never used tobacco or 
liquors in any form at any time. 5. My one book was the Word 
of God. From it I gathered my inspiration to work for humanity, to 
keep myself pure, and lift up the fallen. When the temptations of 
youth assailed me I spent half the night lettering a big sign which 



364 EXTEACTS FEOM OTHER EEPLIES. 

for a long time was fastened to the head-board of my bed, and which 
read: ''They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affec- 
tions and lusts," On the foot-board anotlier sign read : "Jesus is 
My King." 6. To be clean inside and outside. 7. Their failure to 
do their best work for others before trying to succeed for themselves. 
Jesus said : " If ye have not been faithful in that which is another 
man's, who shall give you that which is your 'own ? " 

Gen. Clinton B. Fisk. The facts and principles underlying the 
true success of Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, who amassed wealth, and 
with equal care distributed it as a philanthropist, meantime leading 
the unpopular temperance reform, are as follows : 1. He was a 
village boy, but spent several years working on a farm. From 
childhood he was accustomed to regular work. 2. While he was 
yet young, his father died, leaving the widow with six boys, Clin- 
ton being but a babe. Her assets were a section of wild land, a black- 
smith shop, and a mortgaged home. At 9 years of age Clinton was 
apprenticed for two years to a farmer, with provision for three 
months' schooling a year, after which he was able to return to his 
home. 4. He never used either tobacco or intoxicants. 6. The chief 
element of his success was a firm resolve to regard his church, his 
manhood, and his God above the gains of doubtful success or popular 
applause. 

David Josiah Brewer was born June 20, 1837, in Smyrna, Asia 
Minor, of American missionaries. He was graduated from Yale Uni- 
versity in 1856, and from the Albany Law School in 1858. He began 
the practise of law in Leavenworth, Kansas, and subsequently be- 
came Judge of Probate, District Judge, Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Kansas, Judge of the Circuit of the United States, and then, in 1899, 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Whitelaw Reid was born near Xenia, O., October 27, 1837. The 
family, in Mr, Reid's boyhood, were in moderate circumstances. In 
1856 he was graduated from Miami University, and then spent a year 
in teaching, being active also in the Fremont campaign. He became 
editor of the Xenia News and afterwards of Cincinnati Gazette. His 
connection with the New York Tribune began in 1868, and he was 
soon made managing editor. He succeeded Horace Greeley as editor- 
in-chief in 1872. In 1889 Mr. Reid was appointed Minister to France, 
and in 1892 was a candidate for Vice-President on the Republican 
ticket. He became Ambassador to Great Britain in 1905. 

Henry Cabot Lodge was born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1850, 
and was graduated from Harvard in 1871. Soon after he became 
assistant editor of the North American Review, and lecturer on Ameri- 
can colonial history at Harvard. He was first elected to Congress 
in 1879. In 1893 he was elected to the United States Senate. He 
is the author of many books, including biographies of Hamilton, 
Washington, and Daniel Webster, works on American colonial and 
revolutionary history, and has edited the writings of Hamilton. 

Grover Cleveland was born March 18, 1837. He was elected 
Sheriff of Buffalo in 1881, Governor of New York in 1882, President 
of the United States in 1884. 

Bishop Alexander Mack ay- Smith. 1. Born and reared in large 
city. 2. No. 3. Not until 27, parents being wealthy. 4. No. 5. "This 
one thing I do. " 6. Manliness. 7. Lack of grit and energy. 



APPENDIX. 265 



EEADING OOUESES. 

The biographies of successful men show that it is largely 
by the devotion of leisure hours to useful reading that men 
outstrip their associates. 

"The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight, 
But they, while their companions slept, 
"Were toiling upward in the night." 

It is therefore appropriate to insert here suggestive 
courses of reading by which those whose aspirations have 
been quickened by this book may turn their interest into 
helpful channels. 

A precedent that should be widely followed was estab- 
lished at Greenville College, Illinois, after a Commencement 
address by the author of this book, when the graduates of 
1905 resolved to make " Commencement " what its name 
implies (a commencement of lifelong study, for which col- 
lege is but the preparation), and accordingly organized 
themselves into a reading club, adopting the Round-the- 
World Tour in Books for the first year, with first montli in 
Japan ; second, in China ; third, in India and Southern Asia ; 
fourth, Turkey and Western Asia; fifth, Africa; sixth, 
Russia and Balkan States; seventh, German States; eighth, 
Latin States and remainder of Continental Europe J ninth, 
Great Britain and British America; tenth. United States; 
eleventh, Mexico and South America; twelfth, Oceanicaand 
Australasia. For second year, the Christian Centuries. 
Such a course will make the **M.A./' after three years, 
mean something. 



366 APPEN^DIX. 



A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD Iiq" BOOKS. 

For Clubs, and especially for Graduating Classes as a Postgraduate 
Study and Fellowship. 

A great deal of the time that is spent in reading is not used to the 
greatest advantage for lack of some definite and appropriate plan. 
In order to achieve the highest pleasure and profit in one's reading, 
there needs to be botJi unity and variety. This may be secured by 
A Tour Round the World in Books. In connection with each coun- 
try, one may read poetry and romance, history and biography, and 
sometimes also books of science; and still in all this variety there v^ill 
be an element of unity — a comprehensive survey of the country under 
consideration. 

In the following list a short trip around the world with the briefest 
and most popular books is indicated by the numeral 1. Those who 
wish to make the course somewhat longer, or to make the second 
trip, will use the books marked 2; and those who desire a completer 
reading still, or a third trip around the world, will avail themselves 
of those books marked 3. For obvious reasons it has not been thought 
necessary to include in these lists the handbooks of Murray and 
Baedecker. Cyclopedias and articles in current magazines will be of 
constant use. 

Even this third trip includes only a few of the elaborate books 
which would be studied in such a connection by a professional man, 
who intended to go into the subject with great thoroughness. Such 
we leave for the most part unmentioned, and many others that might 
profitably be added, but which would make the course too long for 
popular use. 

If those using this plan of reading should unite in a literary society, 
and, at the end of each of these courses of reading, there should be 
an examination, with some certificate of merit, to which all were 
looking forward, it would add to the zest; and there would be still 
more interest in the course if, by the way, recitations, readings, and 
essays on the countries passed through, were given at the meetings 
of the circle or society, and photographs of the scenes under consid- 
eration were brought by the members. 

A certain reading club began this Round the World Trip with two 
months in Italy. For two weeks the members read books in regard 
to the political and social life of ancient and modern Italy, from 
Romulus to Garibaldi, one person being required to prepare a ten- 
minute sketch of its early political history, and another a longer essay 



APPENDIX. 267 

• 

oil its nuxloni unification, 's\iHlc yet anotlicr. who liad visited Italy, 
described, Avith tlie aid of pictiues and costumes, tlic social life of the 
people. A second fortnight was devoted to Italy's religious history, 
Avitli short essays and carefully prepared talks, on the Waldeuses, the 
Komaii Catholics, and Savonarola — each essay or talk being followed 
by general conversation on the same topic, to add whatever facts 
other members of the club had ascertained, and to draw out more 
fully the meaning of the essayist or leader, if any jioint had not been 
sulHoiently explained. A third fortnight was spent in reading Italian 
I He rat II re and the biographies of Italian authors, short essays being 
prepared, by assignment, on Cicero, Virgil, Seneca, Dante, Petrarch, 
and Tasso, and arranged on the program in chronological order. 
The last fortnight was devoted to the development of Italian art, 
with seven-minute sketches of her great artists in chronological order, 
the subjects being illustrated by photographs and other copies of their 
masterpieces. 

Usually the study of a country should begin with reading a com- 
prehensive sketch of it in the latest available cyclopedia. Brief 
sketches of pagan lands can usually be found in recent booklets issued 
by missionary societies, whose aid should be sought in getting lists of 
books on Asia. Afri(;a, and Oceanica, Apply, with stamp, to I\ev. 
Frank D. Gamewell, 150 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. It will generally be 
best to keep to the one-year schedule (p. 265) for first year. Omitted 
books can be taken in second year's reading by centuries (p. 278), 
and in third year's course in biography (p. 279). Send to Prof. George 
E. Vincent, Pli.D,, University. Chicago, forC. L. S. C, reading course, 
the best of all, "We suggest that current topics should be taken up 
as practical iu-i>hules to all these remoter topics. (See p. 278,) 

Few can read all the books, but the aim should be to read at least 
one hour a day or six hours per week. 

In ordering a book from a bookseller, it will greatly expedite mat- 
ters to give not only the name of the book, but also the author and 
publisher. The price should always be given when known, that the 
bookseller may know which of several bindings or editions is desired. 
AYhen the price is not known, the order should designate whether a 
cheap edition is wanted or otherwise. 



OUTLINE FOK STUDY OF EACH COUNTRY. 

Name ? Former names ? Area, as compared with one 

or more of our States ? Bounded by what countries and waters ? 

Mountainous or otherwise ? Climate ? Minerals ? 



268 APPENDIX. 

Vegetable products ? Native animals ? Earliest 

known inhabitants, of what color and race ? Present inhabit- 
ants, of what color and race, and speaking what languages ? 

Number of inhabitants to the square mile ? Intellectual condi- 
tion ? Moral condition ? Peculiar customs ? Great 

monarchs in chronological order ? Revolutions ? Great 

battles ? Present form of government, and name of ruler ? 

What famous men has the nation produced ? Past and 

present religions of the people ? What is the nation's chief ex- 
cellence ? Its chief faults or misfortunes ? What may our 

nation learn from this country by way of warning or example ? 

JAPAN. 

1. From Tokio Through Manchuria with the Japanese (Appletons, $1.50)_Seaman 

2. Japonica (Scribners, $3) Arnold 

2. Heart of Japan (McClure, $1.50) Brownell 

2. Letters from Japan— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $7.50) _ Fraser 

1. Unfamiliar Japan— 2 vols. (Houghton, $4) Hearne 

1. Out of the East (Houghton, $1.25) " 

1. Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation (Houghton, $1.25) " 

1. An Artist's Letters from Japan (Century, $4) La Farge 

1. The Real Japan (Scribners, $1.50) ..Norman 

1. The Awakening of Japan (Century) Kakaso 

1. Japanese Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Knox 

1. Jin rikisha Days in Japan (Harper's, $2) Scidmore 

1. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (Putnams, $2.50) Bird 

2. From Egypt to Japan (Scribners, $2) Field 

3. The Mikado's Empire (Harpers, $4) Griffls 

1. Evolution of the Japanese (Revell, $2, net) S. L. Gulick 

1. Present Day Japan (Lippincott, $4.50, net) Davidson 

1. The White Peril in the Far East (Revell, $1, net) S. L. Gulick 

CHINA. 

1. Things Chinese (Revell, $3) Ball 

2. Yangtse Valley and Beyond (Putnams, $4) .Bishop 

2. History of China— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $5) _ Boulger 

1. China in Transformation (Harpers, $3) Colquhoun 

1. Intimate China (Lippincott, $5) Little 

1. A Cycle of Cathay (Revell, $2) Martin 

1. The Lore of Cathay (Revell, $2) " 

1. Chinese Characteristics (Revell, $2) Smith 

3. Travels in Manchuria (Scribners, $2^ Younghusband 

1. China and the Chinese (Presby. JBoard of Pub., $1.50) Nevins 

2. Boy Travelers in China and Japan (Harpers, %2) Knox 

1. Intoxicants and Opium in All Lands and Tim 3s (International Reform Bureau, 

Washington, D. C, 7oc.)_ '. Graf ts and Leitch 

2. John, Our Chinese Relation (Harpers, 35c.) Knox 

INDIA. 

1. British India (Putnams, $1.50) Fraser 

1. Warren Hastings. Essay on _ . Macaulay 

1. Lord Clive, Essay on „ " 

2. India (Appleton, $2)... Holditch 

3. Rise of British Dominion in India (Scribners, $1.50) __, Lyall 

2. Rudyard Kipling's India books. 

1. Forty-one Years in India (Longmans, $2.50) Roberts 



APPEITDIX. 269 



1. In India (Dodd, S1.50) _ Steevens 

2. History of British India (Longmans, $5) Hunter 

1. Handbook of India, etc. (Math. Book Con., $1) W. E. Bobbins 

1. "Winter in India (Funk, 15c.) Baxter 

2. A Woman 's Talk About India (Sunday-school Union, 90c. ) Bri ttan 

2. India: What It Can Teach Us (Funk, 25c.) Max Miiller 

1. The Golden Chersonese (Putnams, $2) Bird 

1. Modern Heroes of Mission Fields (Whittaker) Walsh 

1. India and Her Neighbors Andrew 

1. Light of Asia (B'unk, 25c.) Arnold 

3. TheLandof the Veda (Meth. Book Con., $3.50) Butler 

1. Eastern Sketches Thackeray 

2. Eight Years in Ceylon Baker 

2. Rifle and Hound in Ceylon " 

1. India and Ceylon. Haeckel 

PERSIA, MEDIA, ASSYRIA, AND ARABIA. 

1. Persia and the Persians (Houghton, $3) Benjamin 

2. Persia Revisited (Arnold, $5) Gordon 

2. Across Coveted Lands— 2 vols. (Scribners, $7.50) Landor 

2. Early Adventurers in Persia— 2 vols. (Longmans, $7.50)_.. Layard 

1. Through Persia on a Side Saddle (Lippincott, $4.50) Sykes 

1. Southern Arabia (Longmans) Bent 

1. History of Arabic Literature (Appleton, $1.25) . Huart 

1. Origin of Nations (Scribner, $1) Rawlinson 

1. Lalla Rookh (CrowelFs Handy Classics, 35c.) Moore 

2. Rollings Ancient History (Harpers, $4) 

1. Mahomet Irving 

2. Koran Sale 

1. Land of the Saracens (Putnams, $1.50) Bayard Taylor 

2. Haroun-al-Raschid (Putnams, $1) Palmer 

1. Arabian Nights 

2. Palaces of Babylon (Harpers, $5, O. P.) J. P. Newman 

2. Historical Evidences (McVey, 50c.) Rawlinson 

1. Life of Cyrus (Harpers, $1) Jacob Abbott 

1. Life of Darius (Harpers, $1) " " 

1. Life of Xerxes (Harpers, $1) " ■•' 

2. Through Persia by Caravan (Harpers, $1.75, O. P.) Arthur Arnold 

1. Home College Series, Nos. 45, 14 (Meth. Book Con., 5c. each) 

2. Poems of Places: Asia— vols. 21-23 (Houghton, $1 each) 

ASIA MINOR, TURKEY, AND MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS. 

1, Cyprus. 

1. Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare 

1. Comedy of Errors " 

1. The People of Turkey. 

1. Among the Turks (Am. Tract, $1.50) _ Hamlin 

3. Turks in Europe (Harpers, 15c., O. P.) Freeman 

3. Ilios (Harpers, $7.50) Schliemann 

1. Turkey in Asia (Scribner, $1.25, O. P.) _.McCoan 

SYRIA AND PALESTINE. 

1. Sinai and Palestine (Armstrong. $2.50) Stanley 

2. Through Bible Lands (Nisbet, $i.50) Schaff 

3. Bible Lands (Harpers, $5) Van Lennep 

3. Galilee in the Time of Christ (Revell, $1) Merrill 

1. Jewish Artisan Life (Funk, 15c.) Delitzsch 

2. Josephus. 

1. Judas Maccabseus (Putnams, $1) Conder 

1 , Talisman Scott 

1. Home College Series— Palestine, No. 35 (Meth. Book Con., 5c.) 

1 . Daniel Deronda George Eliot 

1. Among the Holy Hills (Scribners, $1.25)_. .Field 

2. The Desert of the Exodus (Harpers, $3) Palmer 



270 APPEi^DIX. 



EGYPT AND AFRICA. 

2. Gordon in Central Africa (Macmillan, $1.75). Hill 

1. With Kitchener to Khartum(Dodd, $1.50) Steevens 

1. In Darkest Africa (.Scribners, $7 50) Stenley 

1. Present Day Egypt (Century, $2.50) Penfield 

2. In the Heart of Africa (Funk, 25c.) Baker 

3. Egypt— 6 vols. (Scribners, each, $2.25) Petrie 

2. Ancient Egyptians (Harpers) Wilkinson 

1. Uarda iBurt, $1) Ebers 

1. The Egyptian Princess (Burt, $1) " 

1. Antony and Cleopatra (Macmillan, 40c.) Shakespeare 

1. Homo Sum (Burt, $1) , Ebers 

1. Hypatia (Burt, $1) Kingsley 

1. Egypt Under its Khedives, (O. P.) DeLeon 

1. Winter on the Nile (Am. Pub. Co., $2.50; Houghton, $2) Warner 

2. Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia (Harpers, $2, O. P.) Prime 

1. Egypt (Home College Series No. 3, Meth. Book Con., 5c.) 

1. On the Desert (Scribners, |2) Field 

2. Things Seen in Morocco (Funk, $2.50) Dawson 

2. King Leopold's Rule in Africa (Funk, $3.75) Morel 

1, Morocco (Putnams, $2) DeAmicis 

1. Central Africa (Harpers, $2.50) Long 

1. Stories of the Gorilla Country (Harpers, $1.25) DuChaillu 

2. South Africa (Harpers, $4.50).-. Livingstone 

2. Life of Livingstone (Revell, $1.50) Blaikie 

2. Through the Dark Continent (Harpers, $7.50) Stanley 

1. Wild Life Under the Equator (Harpers, $1.25) DuChaillu 

1. Western Africa (Harpers, $1.50) Wilson 

1. Zulus and British Frontiers (O. P.) Lucas 

2. Three Visits to Madagascar (J. E. Potter, $1.65, O. P.). Ellis 

RUSSIA AND POLAND. 

2. Peter the Great (Scribners, 2 vols., $6) Schuyler 

1. Memoirs of a Revolutionist (Houghton, $2) Kropotkin 

2. In Joyful Russia (Appletons, $3.50).. Logan 

1. All the Russias (Scribners, $4) ..Norman 

1. Russian Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Palmer 

1. Russia: Her Strength and Weakness (Putnams, $1.75) Schierbrand 

2 Across Russia (Scribners, $1.50). ._. Stoddard 

2. Poland (Putnams, $1.50)... Morflll 

1. Russia (Pott, $1.75) -. " 

3. Russian Empire (Nelsons, $2, O. P.) .Geddie 

3. Russia (Holt, $2) Wallace 

1. Peter the Great (Maynard Merrill Co., 25c.) Motley 

1. Thaddeusof Warsaw (Burt, $1) Jane Porter 

1. A Daughter of Russia (O. P.) Turgenieff 

1. Buried Alive in Siberia (O. P.) Dostageffsky 

2. Poems of Places: Russia (Houghton, $1) 

2. Greece and Russia (Putnams, $1.50) Bayard Taylor 

GREECE. 

2. Modern Life Among the Greeks (Longmans) Bent 

2. Story of the Greeks (Am. Book Co., 60c.) Guerber 

2. Rambles and Studies in Greece (Coates, $3) Mahaffy 

1. Vacation Days in Greece (Scribner, $3) Richardson 

2. Sketches and Studies in Greece— 3 vols. (Scribners, $6) Symonds 

1. Short History of Greece (Macmillan, $1) Robinson 

1. Greece (Am. Book Co., 35c.) Pyfe 

1. Brief History of Greece (Am. Book Co., 75c.) Steele 

3. History of Greece— 10 vols. (Harpers, $17.50) Grote 

1. Old Tales Retold from Greek Mythology (Meth. Book Con., $1.25). ...Lamed 

2. Poems of Places (Houghton, each, $1) 



APPENDIX. 271 



1. Timon of Athens _ Shakespeare 

1. Midsummer's Night's Dream " 

1. Twelfth Night " 

2. Plato's Best Thoughts (Scribner, $1.50) 

1. Greek History (Chautauqua Text Book, Meth. Bk. Room, 10c.) Vincent 

ITALY. 

1. Italian Cities— 2 vols. (Seribners, $3) __ _ Blashfield 

2. Ave Roma Immortalis— 2 vols. (Macmillan, |t)) Crawford 

1. The Tuscan Republics (Putnams, $1.50). Duffy 

3. History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages— 8 vols. 

(Macmillan, S21) Gregorovius 

2. Cities of Southern Italy— 2 vols. (Macmillan, S3. 50) Hare 

2. Cities of Northern Italy— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $3 50) _. " 

2. Cities of Central Italy— 2 vols. (Macmillan, p.50) " 

2. Days Near Rome— 2 vols. (Macmillan, p.50) " 

1. Florence (Macmillan, $1) " 

1. Venice (Macmillan, $1) " 

2. Walks in Rome— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $2.75) — " 

2. The Road in Tuscany Hewlett 

3. Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece— 3 vols. (Seribners, $6) Symonds 

2 Dawn of Italian Independence— 2 vols. (Houghton, $4) Thayer 

1. Rome and Naples (Holt, $2.50) Taine 

1. Florence and Venice (Holt, $2.50).. " 

3. Italian Journeys (Houghton, $1.50) Howells 

1. The Destruction of Ancient Rome (Macmillan, $1.50) Lanciani 

3. Ancient Rome— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $7) Middleton 

1. Italian Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20)__ Villari 

2. Tuscan Cities (Houghton, $1.50) _ Howells 

2, Venetian Life (Houghton, $1.50) __. " 

3. Rome (Scribner, $3.50) Dyer 

2. The Students Gibbon (Amer, Book Co., $1.25) 

1. Coriolanus (Shakespeare's Complete Works— Estes, $3.75) 

1. Lays of Ancient Rome Macaulay 

3. Life of Cicero (Harpers, $3) Trollope 

1. History of Juhus Caesar (Harpers, $1) Jacob Abbott 

1. Tragedy of Julius Caesar Shakespeare 

2. Caesar Froude 

1. Last Days of Pompeii Bulwer 

2. Pompeii (Little, Brown & Co., $2.75) Dyer 

2. Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius (Funk, 15c.) 

1. Catacombs of Rome (Meth, Book Con., $2.50) ...Withrow 

2. In His Name (Roberts, $1) Hale 

1, Petrarch (Lippincott, $1) Reeve 

1. Rienzi.- Bulwer 

3. Stones of Venice Ruskin 

1. Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare 

1. Two Gentlemen of Verona " 

1. Romeo and Juliet " 

1. Taming of the Shrew " 

1. Winter's Tale 

1. Romola (Lovell's Library, 30c.) George Eliot 

1. Essay on Machiavelli (Macaulay's Essays, Funk, 20c.) Macaulay 

2. Dante, translated by Gary t Seribners, $1.25) 

1. Life of Dante (Lippincott, $1) Roscoe 

3. Life of Lorenzo de Medici (Bohn Lib., $1) " 

8. Life of Leo X. (Bohn Lib , $2) " 

1. Early Italian Painters (Houghton, $1.25) Mrs. Jameson 

2. RaphaeKScribners, $1.25) D'Anvers 

2. Titian (Seribners, $1.25) Heath 

2. Tintoretto (Seribners, $1.25) Osier 

1. Othello Shakespeare 

1. The Tempest " 

1. Life of Tasso (Lippincott, $1) 

2. Life of Alfieri (Lippincott, $1) 

1. Marble Faun _ ..Hawthorne 



272 APPENDIX. 



1. Pictures from Italy . Dickens 

1. Old Rome and New Italy (Harpers, $1.75, O. P.) Castelar 

1. Garibaldi Bent 

2. Victor Emanuel (Putnams, $1) Dicey 

1. Mrs. Browning's Poems (Crowell, $1.25) 

1. Poems of Places: Italy— 3 vols. (Houghton, $1 each) 



GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. 

2. History of the German Struggle for Liberty— 2 vols. (Harpers, S5).— Bigelow 

1. Central Europe (Appletons, %2) Partsch 

1. Bohemia from the Earliest Times (Putnams, $1.50) Maurice 

1. Austria (Putnams, $1.50) Whitman 

2. A Girl's Wanderings in Hungary (Longmans, $2) Browning 

3. On the Track of Ulysses 'Houghton, $4) Stillman 

1. Holy Roman Empire 'Caldwell, $1) Bryce 

1. Bismarck and German Unity (Macmillan, $1) Smith 

1. German Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Dawson 

1, Austria (Scribners, $1.35) Kay 

2. Austria (Dodd, $2.50) _ Abbott 

1. Measure for Measure Shakespeare 

1. Luther's Table Talk Dr. Macaulay 

2. Martin Luther and His Works (Putnams, $1) Treadwell 

1. Chronicles of the Schonberg Cotta Family (Dodd, $1) Mrs. Charles 

1. Thirty Years' War (El. L., 25c.) Schiller 

1. Hermann and Dorothea (Literal Trans., 50c.) Goethe 

3. Wilhelm Meister (Houghton, $3) _ 

1. Song of the Bell Schiller 

1. Essay on Frederick the Great (Macaulay 's Essays, Funk, 20c.) 

1. Life of Schiller (Scribners, 40c.) Carlyle 

2. Reminiscences of Froebel (Lee, $1.50) Von Biilow 

1. Memories of My Exile (Funk, 40c.) Kossuth 

1. Hyperion Longfellow 

1. German Tales (Holt, $1) Auerbach 

2. Villa on the Rhine (Holt, $2) 

1. A Legend of the Rhine Thackeray 

1. Essays of Carlyle on German Subjects— Luther, Schiller, Richter, Goethe, 

etc. (Carlyle's Essays, Funk, 20c ) 

2. Biographies of Great Musicians— Vols, on Bach, Schubert, Wagner, Weber 

(Scribners, $1 each) 

1. Grimm's Fairy Tales 

2. Heine's Poems (Scribners, $1) 
2. Life of Wagner 

2. The Pilgrims of the Rhine Bulwer 

2. Poems of Places: Germany— 2 vols. (Houghton, $1 each) 



SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK, ICELAND, AND 
GREENLAND. 

1. Gustavus Adolphus (Putnams, $1.50) _ Fletcher 

1. Charles XII. (Putnams, $1.50) Bain 

1. Norway (Putnams, $1.50) Boye- en 

2. Land of the Midnight Sun— 2 vols. (Harpers, $5) Du Chaillu 

2. Norway and the Norwegians (Scribners, $f.50) Keary 

1. Danish Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Brochner 

1. Sweden and Norway (Scribners, $1.25) Woods 

1. Denmark and Iceland (Scribners, $1.25) Otte 

1. Hamlet _ Shakespeare 

1. Early Kings of Norway (Harpers, $1.25)._ Carlvle 

1. Ilka on the Hill Top (Scribners, $1) Boyesen 

1. Gunmar— A Tale of Norse Life (Scribners, $1,25) " 



APPE1?-EIX. 273 

1. Fisher Maiden (Houghton, $1) Bjornsen 

]. Synnore Solbakken (Houghton, $1) " 

1. The Happy Boy _ " 

1. Arne " 

1. Hans Christian Andersen's Stories 

2. Studies in Northern Literature (Scribners, $4.80) Gosse 

2. Poems of Places— vols. 7, 8 (Houghton, $1 each) 

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 

1. Holland and Its People (Putnams, $2.25) Amicis 

1. Sketches in Holland (Macmillan, $1) Hare 

1. Dutch Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Hough 

2. Rise of the Dutch Republic— 3 vols. (Macmillan, $3) Motley 

2. History of United Netherlands (Harpers) " 

1. Netherlands (Saalfield, $1) ...Young 

1. Rembrandt (Scribners, $1.25) MoUet 

1. Van Dyck (Scribners, $1.25) Head 

1. Heart of Holland (Scribners, $6, O. P.) Havard 

2. Poems of Places— vol. 15 (Houghton, $1) 

FRANCE. 

2. History of the French Revolution— 2 vols. (Crowell, $2) Carlyle 

2. France— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $4) Bodley 

2. Days Near Paris (Macmillan, $2.50) Hare 

1. The French People (Appletons, $1.50) Hassall 

2. The Stones of Paris— 2 vols. (Scribners, $4) Martin 

1. Journeys Through France (Holt, $2.50) Taine 

3. An Englishmarf in Paris (Appletons) ..Van Dam 

2. Story of France— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $5) Watson 

2. Napoleon (Macmillan, $2.50) 

1. The French Revolution— 2 vols. (Harpers, $3) MacCarthy 

3. My Literary Life (Appletons,. $2.50) Adam 

3. Bourrienne's Memoirs — 4 vols. (Scribners, $5) 

1. French Traits (Scribners„$1.50) Brownell 

3. An Inland Voyage (Scribners, $1.25) Stevenson 

1. French Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1 20) Lynch 

1. The Real Latin Quarter (Funk,:i.l.30) _ Smith 

1. How Paris Amuses Itself (Funk, $1.50) " 

1. France (Appleton's Primers, 45c.) Yonge 

1. France (Scribners, $1.25) Roberts 

3. History of France (Estes, $2.50) Guizot 

1. Joan of Arc (Funk, 15c.)— Lamartine 

2. Joan of Arc (Putnams, $1) Tuckey 

1. Love's Labor 's Lost Shakespeare 

1. As You Like It *•• 

1. All's Well that Ends Well " 

1. The Huguenots (Harpers, $2) Smiles 

2. Gaspard de Coligny (Harpers, 25c.) Besant 

1. Wandering Jew ..Eugene Sue 

i. History of King Henry IV. (Harpers, $1) Jacob Abbott 

1. History of King Louis XIV. (Harpers, $1) " " 

■•.History of Marie Antoinette (Harpers, $1) _ " " 

1. HistT)ry of Madame Roland (Harpers, $1) " " 

1. French Revolution (Harpers, $1.50) De Tocqueville 

1. A Tale of Two Cities Dickens 

1, Napoleon and His Marshals (Scribners, $1.75) Headley 

1. Les Miserables Victor Hugo 

2. Lamartine and His Friends (Putnams, $1.25) Lacretelle 

1. Carlyle' s Essays on French Subjects— Mirabeau, Voltaire, Diderot, etc. (Car- 

lyle's Essays, Funk, 20c.) 
1. French Leaders (Putnams, $1.25)_ King 

1. Paris Sketches Thackeray 

2. The Parisians (Harpers, 60c.) Bulwer 

1. France— Home College Series (Meth. Book. Con., 5c.) 

2. Poems of Places: France— 3 vols. (Houghton, $1 each) 



274 APPENDIX. 



SWITZERLAND. 

1. The Model Republic (Scribners, $5) Baker 

3. The Alps from End to End (Macmillan, $8) Conway 

2. Rise of the Swiss Republic (Holt, $2) MacCracken 

1. The Playground of Europe (Longmans, $1.50) . Stephen 

1, Swiss Life in Town and Country (Putnams, $1.20) Story 

1. Switzerland (Lothrop, $1.50) Slidell 

2. Switzerland (Scribners, $1.25) Coolidge 

1. William Tell (Scribners, $1.40) Schiller 

1. Pestalozzi (Chautauqua Text Book, Meth. Ek. Room, 10c.) 

2. Life of John Calvin (Funk, 15c.) Guizot 

2. Scrambles AmoDg the Alps (Scribners, $5) Whymper 

1, Hours of Exercise in the Alps (Appletons, $2) Tyndall 

1. Prisoner of Chillon and Childe Harold Byron 

1. Poems of Places: Switzerland, etc. (Houghton, $1) 

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

1. Castillian Days (Houghton, $1,25) Hay 

1. Spain (Macmillan, $1.50) Hume 

2. The Moors in Spain (Putnams, $1.50) Poole 

1. Spanish Cities (Scribners, $1.50) ..Stoddard 

1, Spain and the Spaniards (Putnams, $2.25) A.micis 

3. The Bible in Spain— 2 vols. (Putnams, $4)._ Barrow 

2. History of Spain— 2 vols. (Longmans, $5) Burke 

2. Portugal (Putnams, $1..50) Stephens 

1. Wanderings in Spain (Macmillan, $2) Hare 

2. Conquest of Granada Irving 

2. Conquest of Spain " 

2. Moorish Chronicles " 

1. Christians and Moors of Spain (Macmillan, $1) Yonge 

1. The Alhambra Irving 

3. Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella— Full set of Prescott's Works (Lippincott, 

2. Reign of Philip II. (Lippincott) " 

1. Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare 

1. In the Shadow of the Pyrenees (Scribners, $2) M. R. Vincent 

1. Don Quixote Cervantes 

1. Portugal (Putnams, $2.25) Crawfurd 

2. Poems of Places— vol. 14 (Houghton, $1) 

ENGLAND AND WALES. 

2. The English Constitution (Appletons, $2) Bagehot 

3. Greater Britain— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $12) _Dilke 

3, Rural England— 2 vols (Longmans, $15) Haggary 

1. History of Our Own Times (Harpers, $1.75) .MacCarthy 

3. Influence of Sea Power Upon History (Little, $4) Mahah 

3. Life of Gladstone— 3 vols. (Macmillan, $10) Morled 

3. Expansion of England (Little, $1.75) Seelye 

1. The United Kingdom— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $4). Smith 

2. Wild Wales (Scribners, $1) Barrow 

2, A Book of North Wales Baring Gould 

1, English Traits (Crowell, 75c.) Emerson 

1. The Trip to England (Macmillan, 75c.) Smith 

1. Gray Days and Gold (Macmillan, 75c.) Winter 

1. Old Shrines and Ivy (Macmillan, 75c.) - " 

1. England (Appleton's Primer, 45c.) Green 

1. Child's History of England Dickens 

2. Short History of the English People (Harpers, $1.20) Green 

3. The Making of England " 

3. History of England (Harpers, $1.25) Macaulay 

1, King Lear Shakespeare 

1. Cymbeline " 

1. Alfred the Great (Funk, 20c.) Hughes 



APPElfDIX. 275 

J. King John Shakespeare 

1. Richard II 

1. Henry IV 

1. Merry Wives of Windsor " 

1. Henry V 

1. Henry VI 

1. Richard III 

1. Henry VIII 

1. Essays on Bacon (Funk, 20c.) — Macaulay 

1. Queens of England (Harpers, $1.25) Strickland 

1. Kenilworth Scott 

2. Shakespeare's Heroines (Scribners, $1.40) Mrs. Jameson 

1. Short History of English Bible (Meth. Book Con., 50c.) Freeman 

2. Life of Cromwell (Harpers, |2.50) Carlyle 

1. Essay on Milton (Macaulay's Essays, Funk, 20c.) 

2. The Plague in London Defoe 

1. John Bunyan (Macmillan, 40c.) Froude 

1. Essays on Dryden and Addison (Macauley's Essays, Funk, 20c.) 

1. Carlyle's Essay on Johnson (Carlyle's Essays, Funk, 20c.) 

2. English Literature (Am. Book Co., 35c.) Brooke 

3. Taine's English Literature (Holt, $1.25) 

1. Life of Nelson (Harpei's, 75c.) Southey 

1. The Four Georges Thackeray 

1. Modern England (Harpers, 25c.) 

1. Adam Bede-__ George Eliot 

1. Wit and Wisdom of George Eliot ^Little, $1) 

1. John Halifax, Gentleman Mrs. Muloch-Craik 

1. Tom Brown at Rugby Hughes 

1. TomBrown at Oxford 

1. Sesame and Lilies Ruskin 

2. English Humorists ..Thackeray 

3. Carlyle's Reminiscences Froude 

2. Vanity Fair Thackeray 

2. Oliver Twist Dickens 

1. David Copperfield (L., 40c.) " 

3. Self-Help Smiles 

2. Nicholas Nickleby Di. kens 

1. Dombeyand Son " 

1. English Traits (Houghton, $1.50) Emerson 

2. Old Curiosity Shop Dickens 

1. Pickwick Papers " 

1. Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood MacDonald 

3. Earl of Beaconsfield. 

2. Famous London Merchants (Harpers, $1) Bourne 

1. Life of Victoria (Anderson, O. P.) Grace Greenwood 

IRELAND. 

1. Fall of Feudalism in Ireland (Harpers, $2.50) Davitt 

2. Young Ireland (Henneberry, 50c.) Duffy 

2. Ireland and the Empire (Dutton, $2) Russell 

1. Ireland (Putnams, $1.50) Lawless 

1. Ireland and Her Story (Funk, $1) McCarthy 

1, History of Ireland C. G. Walpole 

1. Goldsmith, in English Men of Letters (Harpers, 75c.) Morley 

1. Vicar of Wakefield Goldsmith 

1. Deserted Village 

2. Goldsmith. _. Irving 

1. Handy Andy (Little. $1.50) Lover 

1. Irish Legends (Little, $1.50) '^ 

1. Carlyle's Irish Journey in 1849 (Harpers, $1) 

1. Irish Bar O'Flanagan 

2. The Munster Circuit ._ " 

1. Pictures from Ireland McGrath 

1. Irish Sketches Thackeray 

2. Sketch of Burke (Harpers, 75c.) Morley 

2. Curran (Harpers, $1.50) 

2. Poems of Places: Ireland (Houghton, $1) 



276 APPEJ^DIX. 



SCOTLAND. 

1. History of Scotland (Holt, $1)_ MacArthur 

1. Macbeth Shakespeare 

1. Scottish Chiefs ..Jane Porter 

1. Mary Queen of Scots (Harpers, $1) Jacob Abbott 

1. Rob Roy Scott 

1. Old Mortality. _. " 

1. Robert Burns Shairp 

1. Essay on Burns (Carlyle's Essays, Funk, 20c.) Carlyle 

1. Burns's Poems, with Memoir (Scribners, $1.25) 

1. Burns and Scott (English Men of Letters, 75c.) ..Morley 

1. Scott's Poems (Appletons, Sl-50) 

2. Abbotsford.- ._. Irving 

1. Heart of Midlothian... Scott 

2. The Monastery " 

2. The Abbot (Sequel) " 

2. Robert Falconer MacDonald 

1. Scottish Reminiscences (Gall & Ingliss, $1.50j Dean Ramsey. 

2. OfC the Skelligs (Little, $1) Jean Ingelow 

1. Home College Series on Chalmers and Carlyle, Nos. 64, 1 

(Meth. Book Con., 5c. each) 

2. Poems of Places— vol. 6 (Houghton, $1) 

1. Rab and His Friends Dr. John Brown 

2. Schools and Schoolmasters (New Argyle Series, Hurst, 30c.) Hugh Miller 

2. Malcolm _ _ MacDonald 

2, Marquis of Lossie.. _ '' 

1. Scottish Characteristics (Funk) -.Hood 

THE ATLANTIC VOYAGE. 

1. Book of the Ocean (Century, $1.50) IngersoU 

1. Perils of the Sea (Harpers, 75c.) 

1. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . Verne 

1. The Ocean (Home College Series, Meth. Book Con., 5c. each) 

CANADA AND BRITISH AMERICA. 

3. Canada and the Twentieth Century Bradley 

2. Jesuits in North America (Little, $1.50) Parkman 

2. Pioneers of France in the New World (Little, $1.50). 

2. Half Century of Conflict (Little, $1.50) " 

2. The Old Regime in Canada (Little, $1.50) 

2. Montcalm and Wolfe (Little,|1.50) " 

2. Count Fontenac (Little, $1.50) _ 

1. The Seats of the Mighty (Appletons, $1.50) Parker 

1. Old Quebec— 2 vols. (Macmillan, $3.75) "■ 

1. Fight with France in North America (Dutton, $8) Bradley 

1. Canada (Putnams, $1.50) Bourinot 

1. Canada (Chautauqua Text Book, Meth. Bk. Room, 10c.) ...Hughes 

2. Canada (Scribners, $1.25) _.Rae 

2. Poems of Places— vol. 30 (Houghton, $1) 

2. The Hudson Bay Territory (Putnams, $1.75).- _ Robinson 

UNITED STATES 

8. La Salle and the Great West (Little, $1.50) Parkman 

1. History of the United States (Houghton, $1) Fiske 

2. Daniel Boone (Appletons, $1) Thwaites 

2. Life of Lincoln— 2 vols. (Appletons, $3) Herndon 

1. History of the United States (Macmillan, $1..50) Channing 

1. Conquest of the Southwest (Appletons, itpl.50) Brady 

3. A Diary from Dixie (Appletons, $2.50) Chesnut 

2. History of the United States— 6 vols. (Appletons, $5) Bancroft 

1. American Commonwealth (Macmillan, $1.75) Bryco 



APPE]!q-Dix. 277 

1. American Revolution— 2 vols. (Houghton, $4)—- Fiske 

1. Critical Period of American History (Houghton, $2) " 

1. Old Virginia and Her Neighbors— 2 vols. (Houghton, $4) " 

1. Dutch and Quaker Colonies— 2 vols. (Houghton, $4) " 

1. New France and New England (Houghton, $2) _ " 

1. History of American Politics (Holt, $1.25) Johnston 

2. State Histories in American Commonwealth Series (Houghton, $1.2.5) 

3. History of the United States Navy— 3 vols, (Appletons, $9) Maclay 

3. Memoirs of U. S. Grant (Century, $5) 

3. United States of America— 2 vols. (Appletons, $10) Shaler 

3. Democracy in America— 2 vols. (Century, $5) De Tocqueville 

1. The United States (Macmillan, $2) .G. Smith 

2. The Winning of the West— 3 vols. (Putnams, $7.50; Roosevelt 

1. Land of the Dollar (Dodd, $1.50) Steevens 

2. Outre-mer (Scribners, $1.75) Bourget 

1. Life and Voyages of (jolumbus Irving 

1. American Explorers (Lee, $1.50) -Higginson 

1. The Scarlet Letter (Houghton, $1.25) Hawthorne 

1. Last of the Mohicans Cooper 

1. Knickerbocker History of New York... Irving 

1. Life of Washington " 

1. Oldtown Folks (Houghton, $1.50) Mrs. Stowe 

2, Americau Manners 100 Years Ago (Scribners, $1.50) Scudder 

1, The Spy. Cooper 

1. The Pilot - '■'■ 

2. Story of U. S. Navy for Boys (Harpers, $1.75) Lossing 

1. Creole Days (Scribners, |1.25) .._ Cable 

1. Uncle Tom's Cabin Mrs. Stowe 

2. The Virginians Thackeray 

1. The Circus Rider (Scribner's, $1.50) ..Eggleston 

1. The Hoosier Schoolmaster (Orange Judd, $1.50) " 

2. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (Putnams, $1.7.5) Bird 

1. Whittier's Poems (Houghton) 

1. American Notes Dickens 

2. Martin Chuzzlewit " 

3. The War Between the States (Nat. Pub. Co., $5.50, O. P.).. Alex. H. Stephens 

1. A FooFs Errand (Baker & Taylor, $1.50) Tourgee 

1. The Grandissimes (Scribners, $1.50)- Cable 

1. Barriers Burned Away (Dodd) E. P. Roe 

2. A Century of Dishoner (Harpers, $1.50) Helen Hunt Jackson 

2. Chinese in America (Meth. Book Concern, $1.50) Gibson 

1. America Revisited (Funk, 20c.) Sala 

2. Night Side of New York Talmadge 

2. Farm Ballads (Harpers, $2) WillCarleton 

3. Building the Nation (Harpers, $3) Coffin 

3. A Century of American Literature (Holt, $1) ...Beers 

1. Successful Men of To-day (Funk) Crafts 

1. Home College Series, Nos. 4, 8, 21, 46, 48 (Meth. Book Con,, 5c. each) 

3. Poems of Places— vols. 35-39 (Houghton, $1 each) 

WEST INDIES, MEXICO, AND SOUTH AMERICA. 

1, History of the West Indies (Putnams, $1.50) Fiske 

2, Forty-five Years Under the Flag (Appletons, $2.50) Schley 

3, Ancient Cities of the New World (Harpers, $6) Charnay 

3. Unknown Mexico (Scribners, $12) Lumholtz 

2, Awakening of a Native (Harpers, $2.50) Lummis 

1, A White Umbrella in Mexico (Houghton, $1.50) Smith 

1, The Storied West Indies (Appletons, 75c.^ Ober 

2. Mexico as ISawIt (Macmillan, $5) Tweedie 

2. Round and About South America (Appletons, $5) _ _ Vincent 

2. Journey in Brazil (Houghton, $2.50) Agassiz 

3. Brazil, the Amazon, and the Coast (Scribners, $5)_ Smith 

1. Tropical America (Scribners, $1.50). Ford 

1. English in the West Indies (Scribners, $1.75) Fronde 

1. Life of Cortez (Harpers, $1) Jacob Abbott 

1. West Indies (Scribners, $1.35) — Eden 

2. Cuban Sketches (Putnams, $1.50) -— Steele 



278 APPEIS-DIX. 

1. Our Next Door Neighbor (Harpers, $3.50, O. P.) Haven 

2. Young Folks' History of Mexico (Estes, $1.25) Ober 

2. Conquest of Mexico Prescott 

2. Nicaragua (Harpers, $4, O. P.) Squiers 

1. Brazil (Hougliton, $5) Agassiz 

2. Brazil (Little, Brown & Co., $4) Fletcher 

1. Peru (Scribners, $1.25) Markham 

2. Conquest of Peru— 2 vols Prescott 

3. Peru (Holt, $5) — .Squiers 

1. Westward Ho! (Macmillan, $1) Kingsley 

OCEANICA. 

1. Island World (Harpers, $1.50, O. P.) Cheever 

1. Pitcairn's Island (Harpers, 75c., O. P.)_ _ Barrow 

1. At Home in Fiji (Armstrong, $1.25) Cumming 

1. Life in the Sandwich Islands (Barnes, $1.50)_. ...Cheever 

2. Natives in Hawaii (Am. Acad. Pol. Science, 15c.) Titus Coan 

3. Sandwich Islands (Putnams, $2.25) Bird 

1. Adventures in Australia (Button, $1.75, O. P.) _ Lee 

1. New Australian Commonwealth (Am. Acad. Pol. Science, 35c.) Moore 

1. Municipal Institutions of Australia (Am. Acad. Pol. Science, 25c.) Gelling 

2. TTewest England (Doubleday, $2.50) H. D. Lloyd 

1. New Zealand (Scribners, $1.25, O. P.) Vogel 

2. Story of New Zealand (C. F. Taylor, $3) Parsons 

2. Poems of Places: Oceanica (Houghton, $1) 

THE TRIP IN GENERAL. 

1. Round the World in 80 days — Verne 

2. Captain Cook's Three Voyages Round the World (Harpers, 90c., O. P.) 

2. Innocents Abroad (Am. Pub. Co., $3.50) —Mark Twain 

2. History of Our Own Times .McCarthy 

3. Nineteenth Century (Nelson, $1). _ _ _MacKenzie 

3. Around the World (Harpers, $3, O. P.) _Prime 

3. Historical Sketches (Funk, 25c.) Froude 

1. Our New Ways Round the World (Estes, $2.50) Cofifin 

2. Great Voyages Verne 

3. Great Events of History (Nelsons, $1.25) Collin 

1. Outlines of General History (Chautauqua Text Book, Meth., Bk. Room, 10c.) 

Vincent 



The Century Reading Club.— The Committees on Reading Courses for the 
Federation of Woman's Clubs, in two States, have reported favorably on the 
suggestion of The International Reform Bureau (206 Pennsylvania Ave., S. E., 
Washington, D. C ), that the time is opportune for establishing Century Read- 
ing Clubs. The only text-books necessary will be White's " Christian Centuries," 
Brace's "• Gesta Christi," and Crafts' "Practical Christiar Sociology," each 
costing $1.50. A plan of reading is outlined in the last-named book. 

Apply to Bureau for particulars of " Topic-a-Month-Course of Patriotic 
Studies " also. 

Many may be won to social reading about other lands and times if the read- 
ing circle devotes one evening a month, or a part of each meeting, to current 
topics. We suggest that twelve persons be appointed, each to "watch out" 
for news of one of the twelve topics included in the book, " Patriotic Studies " 
(International Reform Bureau, Washington, D. C. Let chairman have cloth 
edition, 35 cts ; others, abridged edition, 2 cts.). At the opening of each meet- 
ing let topic roll be called for, reports on the twelve topics— this prelude to 
take not more than one-third of the evenmg. The topics, in the order of 
months, are: 1. Education. 2. Municipalism . 3. Immigration. 4. The Sabbath. 
5. Labor and Capital. 6. Marriage, Divorce, and Mormonism. 7. National and 
World Government. 8. Purity. 9. Gambling. 10. Penology. 11. Intemperance. 
12. Charity. 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 279 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 

QUESTIOlfS FOR THE AiTALYTICAL STUDY OF IN"DIVIDUAL 
BIOGRAPHIES. 

[After a class or family or literary society or individual 
has gathered all the available information about a promi- 
nent character, let this blank be used for reviewing, classi- 
fying, and recording the facts. It affords an outline for 
conversation. Cite authorities as far as possible, and par- 
ticulars so far as convenient.] 

1. Name, and date of birth ? 

2. Ancestry ? 

3. Father^s financial condition ? 
Father's business ? 
Father's character ? 

4. Mother's character ? 

5. Bodily condition — weak or strong ? 

6. Childhood and youth spent chiefly in the country, 
village, or city ? 

7. Any training to industry by regular tasks of physical 
work in childhood and youth ? 

8. What education — at common school, academy, or col- 
lege, and closed at what age ? 

9. Indications in youth — prophetic of greatness or un- 
promising ? 

10. Out-of-school studies ? 

11. What the parents wished him (or her) to be ? 

12. At what age began self-support, and in what occupa- 
tion ? 

13. Family life — happy or otherwise ? 

14. Changes of occupation in chronological order ? 



280 APPEN"DIX. 

15. Financial condition at the end of career ? 

16. Appearance — striking or inferior ? 

17. Dress — careless or punctilious ? 

18. Most intimate associates ? 

19. Moral habits ? 

20. Mottoes ? 

21. Sympathetic toward the masses or cynical ? 

22. Cheerful or morose ? 

23. Egotistic, self-confident, or self-distrustful, with 
proofs ? 

24. Monarchist or democratic, or neither ? 

26. If in politics, diplomatic or recklessly heroic ? 

26. If an orator, extemporaneous, memoriter, or reader ? 

27. Atheist, deist, or Christian in intellectual belief ? 

28. What said of the Bible ? 

29. What said of Christ ? 

30. Used tobacco or alcoholic beverages, or both ? 

31. Moral or religious defects ? 

32. Most striking contrasts with other great characters ? 

33. Closest resemblances to other great characters ? 

34. Changes of opinion on great subjects in chronological 
order ? 

35. Chief failures ? 

36. Chief successes ? 

37. In what respect did his or her life most deeply bene- 
fit society ? 

38. Expressions of disappointment with worldly success ? 

39. Was his or her work appreciated during lifetime ? 

40. Most exceptional feature of his or her life ? 

41. To what age did effective work ? 

42. Death at what age and date ? 

43. Has the estimate of his or her greatness increased or 
diminished since death ? 

44. In what work does he or she still live most in- 
tensely ? 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 381 



45. What traits usual in great characters did he or she 
possess ? 

46. What traits usual in great characters did he or she 
lack? 



SUBJECTS FOR BIOGRAPHICAL READIN'GS, WITH A PARTIAL 
LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES AND BOOKS OF REFEREI^CE. 

General Eeferences : The Universal Cyclopedia (Apple- 
ton); Encyclopedia Britannica; New International Cyclo- 
pedia (Dodd); Standard Dictionary (Funk); Cyclopedia of 
American Biography (Appleton) ; Thomas^ Cyclopedia of 
Biography (J. C. Winston, 12.50). 

["See Germany/^ "See England," etc., refer the reader 
to the books mentioned under these titles in the Kound- 
the- World Tour in Books, pp. 266-278.] 

THE MATCHLESS LIFE. 

Jesus Christ. Books : Bible, Earrar's Life of Christ 
(S. S., 50c.), Geikie's Life and Words of Christ (Appleton, 
11,50), Edersheim's Life and Times of the Messiah. 

preachers. 

Paul, Chrysostom, Augustine, Wiclif, Luther, Melanc- 
thon, Calvin, Knox, Massillon, Bourdaloue, Taylor, South, 
Wesley, Whitefield, Eowland Hill, Sydney Smith, Chalmers, 
Finney, Guthrie, F. W. Eobertson, Lyman Beecher, Horace 
Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks, Joseph 
Parker, Thomas Spurgeon, Joseph Cook, D. L. Moody. 

Books: Bible, Bible Dictionary; Farrar's Life of St. Paul 
(S. S., 50c.) ; Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul (Scribners, 
($3, $L50); Luther (See " Germany ") ; also, Mayhew's 
Boyhood of Luther (Harpers, 11.25) ; D'Aubigne's " His- 
tory of the Eeformation " (Am. Tract Soc, 5 vors., $3.50) ; 
Luther's Table Talk (El. L., 5c.; Cassell, 10c.) ; "Guiding 



282 APPENDIX, 

Lights'' (Am. Tract Soc, 80c.); Carlyle's "On Heroes" 
(Burt, 75c.); Guizot's Life of Calvin; Wiclif (See " Eng- 
land '') ; John Knox (Scribners, 75c.) ; Tyerman's Life of 
Wesley (Harpers, $7.50); Rigg's Living Wesley, Southey's 
Life of Wesley (Macmillan, $1.50); Wesley and Whitefield 
in Scotland, by Butler (Funk, $1) ; Charlesworth's Life of 
Rowland Hill (S.S., 15c.); Life of Sydney Smith (F. S., 
15c., 0. P.); "Heroes of Charity" (Am. Tract Soc, 80c., 
0. P.) ; Autobiography of Guthrie (Carters, $2, 0. P.) ; 
Thomas Guthrie, by 0. Smeaton (Scribners, 75c.); Raymond 
Lull, S. M. Zwemer (Funk, 75c.); Robertson's Life and 
Letters (Harpers, $2); Life of Bushnell (Scribners, $3); 
Life of Lyman Beecher (Harpers, $5, 0. P.). 

PHILANTHROPISTS AND REFORMERS. 

Howard, Wilberforce, Garrison, Peabody, Neal Dow. 

KINGS, CONQUERORS, STATESMEN, DIPLOMATISTS. 

Moses, Pericles, Solon, Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, Julius 
Caesar, Justinian, Charlemagne, Machiavelli, Richelieu, 
Leo X., Gregory, Alfred, Bruce, Mahomet, Saladin, Na- 
poleon, Wellington, Murat, Peter the Great, Frederick the 
Great, Charles XIL, Philip II., William (Prince of Orange), 
Cromwell, Gustavus Adolphus, Washington, Hamilton, 
Jefferson, Lincoln, Seward, Garfield, Cobden, Peel, Pal- 
merston, Disraeli, Cavour, Thiers, Bismarck, Gladstone 
Grant, Lee, Von Moltke, Nicholas I., Guizot, Garibaldi, 
Ignatieff, Gortschakoff, Ito, Oyama, 

Books: Taylor's Moses (Harpers, $1.50); Chapters on 
Pericles in Histories of Greece, by Grote, Felton, etc.; Na- 
poleon's Life of Ceesar, Fronde's Sketch of Caesar (Harpers, 
60c.); Voltaire's Life of Charles XIL; Motley's Life of 
Peter the Great (Maynard Merrill, 25c.) ; Carlyle's Life of 
Frederick the Great (Harpers, $7.50) ; Abbott's Life of Fred- 
erick the Great (Harpers, $3.50) ; Dover's Life of Frederick 
the Great (Harpers, $3, 0. P., $3; McGilchrist's Cobden 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 283 

(Harpers, $1.50); Ren wick's Life of Hamilton (Harpers, 
75c., 0. P.) ; Lockhart's Life of Napoleon (Coates, $1) ; Ab- 
bott's Life of Napoleon (Harpers, |3), see "France "; Max- 
well's Wellington (Little, 111; Carlyle's Life of Cromwell 
(Putnam, $2.50) ; Paxton Hood's Life of Cromwell (Funk, 
25c.); D'Aubigne's Cromwell (Carters, $1.25, 0. P.) Three 
vols, on English Statesmen, French Leaders, and German 
Political Leaders (Putnam, $1.25 each) ; Roscoe's Life of 
Leo X. (Macmillan, $2) ; Smith's Life of Gladstone (Put- 
nam, $3, 0. P.), see " England " ; also, for Disraeli, Dis- 
raeli : A Study in Personalities and Ideas (Sichel, $2.50) ; 
Goff's Life of Thiers (Putnam, $2,0. P.); Washington- 
see "United States"; also, for Lincoln; Hinsdale's Garfield 
(Houghton, $1.50)— see also "United States "; Towle's Cer- 
tain Men of Mark (Little, $1, 0. P.); Sparks' American Bi- 
ography, 12 vols. (Harpers, sub.); Garibaldi — see "Italy"; 
Jacob Abbott's illustrated (juvenile) histories of " Foun- 
ders of Empires," " Heroes," " Kings and Queens," 
" Eulers " (Harpers, 32 vols, at 50c. each). 

SECULAR ORATORS. 

Demosthenes, Cicero, Mirabeau, Gambetta, Pitt, Sheri- 
dan, John Bright, Burke, Curran, O'Connell, Grattan, 
Patrick Henry, Webster, Choate, Hayne, Calhoun, Clay, 
Everett, Sumner, Wendell Philips, Kossuth. 

Books: Plutarch's Lives; Forsyth's Life of Cicero, Trol- 
lope's Life of Cicero (Harpers, $3, 0. P.); Histories of 
French Revolution — see "France"; Gambetta — see Towle's 
" Men of Mark "; Morley's Sketch of Burke (Harpers, 75c.); 
Life of Curran (Kenedy, ^1); Harvey's Reminiscences of 
Daniel Webster (Little, $3); Hudson's Centennial Dis- 
course on Daniel Webster (Ginn, 15c.); Charles Sumner, 
A. H. Grimke (Funk, $1.50); Wendell Phillips, Martyn 
(Funk, $1.50). 



384 APPENDIX. 



CELEBRATED WOMEN". 



Queen Elizabeth, Queen Catharine I. of Eussia, Queen 
Victoria, Lady Jane Grey, Florence Nightingale, Joan of 
Arc, Madama Koland, Madame de Stael, Madame Guyon, 
Eosa Bonheur, Mrs. Browning, Charlotte Bronte, George 
Eliot, Fredrika Bremer, Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, 
Mrs. Jameson, Alice and Phoebe Gary, Lydia Maria Child, 
Mrs. Prentiss, Mrs. Somerville, Miss Herschel, Mary Lyon, 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frances Eidley Havergai, Elizabeth 
Stuart Phelps, Frances E. Willard. 

Books : Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss (Wessels^ 
$1.50) ; Oliphant's Life of Victoria (Cassell, 35c., 0. P.) ; 
Stevens' Life of Madame de Stael (Harpers, $3) ; Tuckey's 
Joan of Arc (Caldwell, 75c.) ; Madame Guyon — see " Guid- 
ing Lights " (Am. Tract Soc, 80c.) ; Hitchcock's Life of 
Mary Lyon (Am. Tract Soc, |1) ; Mary Clemmer's Memo- 
rial of Alice and Phoebe Gary, with later poems (Hough- 
ton, $1.50); Clements' Noble Deeds of American Women 
(Lee, $1). 

POETS. 

Homer, Virgil, Horace, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, 
Burns, Goethe, Schiller, Byron, Gray, Cowper, Pope, Gold- 
smith, Moore, Moliere, Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson, 
Shelley, Dryden, Southey, Petrarch, Tasso, Alfieri, Heine, 
Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Bryant. 

Books : See 3 vols, in Morley's " English Men of Letters " 
on Shelley, Goldsmith, Burns, Milton, Cowper, Pope, 
Byron, Gray, Wordsworth, Dryden, Southey (Harpers, 75c. 
each); Living's Goldsmith; Carlyle's Life of Schiller (Scrib- 
ner, $1.25) ; Lewes Life of Goethe (Scribner, $6.40) ; Sy- 
mington's Sketch of Bryant (Harpers, 75c.); Lockhart's 
Life of Burns (Scribner, $1). 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 285 



PAINTERS. 

Eaphael, Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Guido Reni, 
Murillo, Rubens, Tintoretto, Fra Angelico, Correggio, Rey- 
nolds, Landseer, Hogartb, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Dore, 
Meissonier, Carlo Maratta, Bierstadt, Church. 

Books : Jameson's Lives of Early Italian Painters 
(Houghton, $3) ; Lives of Raphael, Fra Angelico, Ho- 
garth, Correggio, Landseer, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, 
Reynolds, Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, Van Dyck, (Scrib- 
ner, 11.25 each); Michael Angelo and Raphael (Scribner, 
12) ; Urbino's Princes of Art (Lee, $1.50) ; Clements' 
Painters, Sculptors, etc. (Houghton, |3). 

SCULPTORS. 

Michael Angelo, Phidias, Praxiteles, Porrigiano, Gian di 
Bologna, Vischer, Flaxman, Dawson, Thorwaldsen, Canova, 
Dannecker. 

Books: Clements' Painters, Sculptors, etc. (Houghton, 
13.00). 

ARCHITECTS. 

Cheops, Giotto, Arnolfi di Lapo, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi 
William of Wykeham, Sir Christopher Wren. 

Books: Quilters' Life of Giotto (Scribner, 11.25); Ur- 
bino's "Princes of Art" (Lee, $1.50); Clements' Painters, 
Sculptors, Architects, etc. (Houghton, $3). 

EXPLORERS AKD TRAVELERS. 

Columbus, Vespucci, Cabot, Captain Cook, Hudson, Liv- 
ingstone, La Salle, Cortez, Pizarro, Balboa, De Soto, H. M. 
Stanley, Bayard Taylor, Sir John Franklin, Kane, Layard, 
Botta, Rawlinson, George Smith, Wood, Schliemann, Con- 
der, Wilson. 



286 APPENDIX. 

Books : Columbus — see " United States " ; Oapt. Cook^s 
Voyages Kound the World (J. 0. Winston, 50c.) ; Blaikie^s 
Livingstone (Revelle, 11.50); Beesley^s Sir John Franklin 
(Caldwell, 75c.). 

SCIENTISTS AND INVENTOKS. 

Grutenberg, Newton, Watt, Stephenson, Fulton, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, Morse, Ericsson, Bell, Edison, Howe, 
Goodyear, Davy, Faraday, Cuvier, Ferguson, Gassendi, 
Humboldt, Audubon, Liebig, Darwin, Huxley, Barrande, 
Agassiz, Wallace, Mivart, Sir Wyville Thompson, Sir Will- 
iam Thompson, Bischof, Virchow, Hugh Miller, Dawson, 
Gray, Dana, Tyndall, Lubbock, Proctor, Newcomb, Pierce, 
Professor Henry, Argyll, Silliman, Owen, Le Conte, Lyell, 
Dawkins, Hughes, Wright, Winchell, Allman. 

Books : Brewster's Life of Newton (Harpers, 75c., 0. P.) ; 
Life of Franklin (Harpers, $1.25); Biography of Sir J. 
Newton (Pub. House of M. E. Ch., 25c.); Life of Faraday 
(Harpers, 90c.) ; Life of Audubon (Putnam, 11.50). 

HISTORIANS. 

Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Josephus, Rollin, 
Gibbon, Hume, Niebuhr, Macauley, D'Aubigne, Grote^ 
Froude, Green, Motley, Prescott, Irving, Bancroft. 

Books: Lives of Hume, Gibbon, and Macaulay in "Eng- 
lish Men of Letters (Harpers, 75c. each) ; Bunsen's Life of 
Niebuhr (Harpers, 11.50, 0. P.) ; Trevelyan's Life and Let- 
ters of Macaulay (Harpers, 15.00); Holmes' Life of Motley 
(Houghton, 11.50). 

NOVELISTS. 

Bunyan, Defoe, Fielding, Cervantes, Scott, Victor Hugo, 
Dickens, Thackeray, MacDonald, Hawthorne, Cooper, 
Tourgee, Turgenieff, Bjornsen. (See also under "' Cele- 
brated Women.'') 



BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. 287 

Books : Trollope's Sketch of Thackeray (Harpers, 75c.) ; 
Foster's Life of Dickens; Lockhart's Life of Scott (Hough- 
ton, $10) ; Lives of Bunyan, Defoe, Thackeray, Hawthorne, 
Dickens, Fielding, in Morley's " English Men of Letters " 
(Harpers, 75c. each). 

PHILOSOPHERS. 

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thales, Confucius, Seneca, 
Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Locke, Bacon, Kant, Comte, 
Spinoza, Hegel, Adam Smith, Hamilton, Dugald Stewart, 
Jonathan Edwards, Woolsey, McCosh, Whedon, Bowne, 
Noah Porter, Spencer3 John Stuart Mill, Hodge, Park. 

Books: Socrates (0. T., 10c. ; Scribner, $1.25); Lives of 
Adam Smith, Hamilton, and Bacon ($1.25 each) ; BoswelFs 
Life of Johnson, and Morley's Johnson (Harpers, 75c.); 
Morley's Life of Locke (Harpers, 75c.). 

ESSAYISTS. 

Addison, Lamb, De Quincey, Oarlyle, Emerson, Euskin, 
Coleridge, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Whipple, Holland, 
Smiles, Charles Dudley Warner. 

Books: Biography Series on Emerson, Euskin, Carlyle, 
etc. (Appletons, $5) ; Fronde's Life of Carlyle ($2) ; Story 
of Thomas Carlyle, A. S. Arnold (Funk, |1) ; Eeminiscences 
of Carlyle, (Harpers, 50c.); AVylie's Sketch of Thomas 
Carlyle (0. P.). 

ADMIRALS Ai^D COMMODORES. 

Nelson, Perry, John Paul Jones, Farragut, Togo. 

Books: Mahan's Life of Nelson (Harpers, 75c.); Mc- 
Kenzie's Life of Perry (Harpers, $1.50); Buell's John 
Paul Jones (Scribners, $2). 

EDUCATORS. 

Arnold, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Horace Mann. 

Books : Stanley's Life of Arnold (Scribner, $2.50) ; Pes- 



288 APPEN"DIX. 

talozzi (0. T., 10c.) ; Froebel, (0. T., 10c.) ; Horace Mann 
(0. T. 10c.) 

JUEISTS Al^D LAWYEES. 

Kent, Blackstone, Story, Greenleaf, Chitty, Caleb Gush- 
ing, Salmon P. Chase, William M. Evarts. 

MUSICIANS. 

Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Handel, Haydn, Bach, 
Wagner, Weber, Schubert, Verdi, Pergolesi, Felicien, David. 

QUESTIONS FOE COMPAEATIVE BIOGEAPHICAL STUDIES. 

[To be answered from Conversations in History Classes, 
Literary Societies, Reading Clubs, and from private 
reading.] 

1. What distinguished persons came from an unpromis- 
ing ancestry and parentage ? 

2. What distinguished persons were reared in homes of 
wealth ? 

3." What distinguished persons were very weak or small 
at birth, or else were cripples, dwarfs, or confirmed in- 
valids ? 

4. What distinguished persons were in early life consid- 
ered dull ? 

5. What distinguished persons took leading honors in 
college ? 

6. What distinguished persons were opposed in their 
chosen occupation by parents, who wished them to be 
something else than that in which they made themselves 
famous (naming the parents^ preference) ? 

7. What distinguished persons have been eminently suc- 
cessful in more than one line of work, and in what lines ? 

8. What distinguished persons have not been in favor of 
republican or constitutional, rather than autocratic gov- 
ernment ? 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 289 

9. What great orators (not preachers) have habitually 
read their speeches ? 

10. What world-used inventions have been given to hu- 
manity by heathen countries or by infidels, and what great 
political or social-reform movements were instituted by 
them ? 

11. What distinguished persons have radically changed 
their religious or political attitude in mature years, and 
what was the change from and to ? 

12. What distinguished persons have seemed to be great 
egoists ? 

13. What distinguished persons have been unusually 
self-distrustful ? 

14. What great blunders or failures have been made by 
distinguished persons ? 

15. What distinguished persons have marred their char- 
acters by vices or crimes, and what were the blots on their 
record ? 

16. What distinguished men have habitually used alco- 
holic beverages or tobacco, or both ? 

17. What distinguished persons have died greatly unap- 
preciated or disappointed ? 

18. What distinguished persons were more appreciated 
when alive than since their death ? 

19. What characteristics are common to all or nearly all 
great characters under all their differences ? 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 154, 243. 
Adulterations, 197. 
Aldrich, Hon. William, 231. 
Aldrich, Senator Nelson W., 

poor in childhood, 25. 
Ancestry, 33. See Heredity. 
Andrews, Dr. Edmund, 246. 
Arabia, books on, 269. 
Associates, influence of, 26, 

168. 
Assyria, books on, 269. 
Austria, books on, 272. 
Authors, use of tobacco and 

liquors by, 20; favorite, of 

great men, 55. 
Autographs of prominent men, 

224. 

B 

Babcock, Dr. Maltbie D., 
quoted, iii. 

Bachelors, 23, 26, 34. 

Bacon, Dr. W. J., 255. 

Baily, Joshua L., letter of, 262. 

Bankers as artists and scien- 
tists, 77. 

Bankruptcy, 201. See Failures. 

Bargains, unfair, 120. 

Barstow, Hon. Amos, 252. 

Bartlett, President C. S., 152, 
227. 

Beatty, Hon. D. F., 238. 

Belgium, books on, 273. 

Benevolence of famous philan- 
thropists, 99, 138, 164-5. 

Betting, 16, 185, 187. 

Bible, business references in, 
95, 112, 221. 

Bingham, E. M., 245. 

Biography, reading course in, 
279 ft.; value of, ii., 12. 

Birthplace, influence of, 13. 



Bishop, Hon. E. E., 251. 

Board of trade, 97. 

Bok, E. W., letter of, 263. 

Books, favorite, 55 f. 

Boston, famous men of, 18. 

Bowne, Samuel W., letter of, 
262. 

Boyd, Hon. J. E., 235. 

Bradley, Milton, 27, 240. 

Brewer, Mr. Justice D. J., por- 
trait of, 65; sketch of, 264. 

Bribery of commercial buyers, 
202. 

British statesmen, scholarly, 102. 

Brooks, William, 252. 

Bross, William, 232. 

Brown, Senator, 36. 

Bryan, Hon. William Jennings, 
portrait of, 30; college inci- 
dent of, 179; letter of, 261. 

Burbank, Luther, cited, iii. 

Burchard, Gordon, 258. 

Burns, Samuel, 236. 

Burritt, Elihu, poor in child- 
hood, 25. 

Business, choice of, 33 ; wrongs, 
39-43, 47 f.; helped by relig- 
ion, 94 if. 

Business men, on success, v.; 
short schooling of many, 24. 



Campbell, Francis Joseph, 138. 
Canada, books on, 276. 
Carnegie, Andrew, portrait of. 

Frontispiece; boyhood of, 28. 
Cars, gospel, 83. 
Carter, President Franklin, 38, 

226. 
Case, Zina, 258. 
Centuries, Christian, reading 

course on, 278. 
Chadbourne, President P. A., 32. 



291 



292 



TOPICAL IN^DEX. 



Chance as related to success, 17, 
31, 37, 48, 209, 211. 

Changefulness, perils of, 155. 

Chapin, President A. L., 252. 

Chapman, F. L., letter of, 263. 

Character, relation of, to suc- 
cess, iii., 108 ; not subject to 
environment, 38, 39, 50. 

Chase, Chief Justice, incidents 
of, 22, 36. 

Chicago business men after 
great fire, 108. 

China, books on, 268. 

Choate, Eufus, 211. 

Christ, definition of success by, 
iii.; condemnation of com- 
mercialism, iv. ; in business 
as carpenter, 76 ; books ' on, 
281. 

Church, may learn from busi- 
ness, 76 if., 86 if.', members 
include majority of rich men, 
100. 

Cigarettes for boys, 19, 118. 

Circumstances. See Environ- 
ment. 

City, proportion of successful 
men from, 16 ; boys from, 
who have succeeded, 32. 

Claflin, H. B., incident of, 171. 

Cleveland, President Grover, 
portrait of, 30; boyhood of, 
216 ; courage of, 53 ; sketch 
of, 264. 

Clubs, reading course for, 265. 

College, portraits of presidents 
of, 141 ; ' ' smart ' ' students 
from, 32 ; proportion of suc- 
cessful men educated in, 34; 
education of public men, 34; 
reading course for graduates 
of, 265. 

Commercialism, evils of, iv. 

Comstock, Anthony, portrait of, 
104; 40, 152, 185, 237. 

Conscience, stupified, 202. 

Cook, Dr. Joseph, 227. 

Cooper, Peter, portrait of, fron- 
tispiece; cited, 36, 164. 

Corliss, George H., 247. 

Country, boyhood in the, a help 
to success, 18. 



Courage, iii., 42, 44, 46, 47, 52, 
53; political, 53, 102; may 
be cultivated, iii. 

Crapo, Hon. W. W., 36. 

Crime, 23, 34, 39. 

Cripples, successful, vi., 35, 36. 

Curry, Hon. C, 251. 

D 

Darrow, C. E., 240. 

Davis, Dr. N. S., 247. 

Davis, Judge Noah, 228. 

Debt injurious, 81, 173, 200; 
sometimes advantageous, 74. 

Denmark, books on, 272. 

De Pauw, Hon. W. C, 246. 

De Wolf, Dr. O. C, 257. 

Dexter, Dr. H. M., 141, 243. 

Dimmock, William, 216. 

Dingley, Hon. Nelson, 141, 230. 

Dishonesties, 39, 173, 180. See 
Honesty. 

Doctors' secret of success, 71, 
145. 

Dodge, Hon. William E., por- 
trait of, Frontispiece; quo- 
ted, ii.; cited, 44, 94, 144, 
213, 260. 

Dougall, John, 254. 

Douglass, Hon, Benjamin, 232. 

Dow, General Neal, portrait of, 
104; 71, 235. 

Drew, Daniel, story of, 101. 

Driggs, Hon. Edmund, 36, 69. 

Duncan, Capt. C. C, 256. 

E 

Economy, 27, 150. 

Editors' mottoes, 71. 

Edmunds, Hon. George F., 249. 

Education, lack of, 24, 175 ; 
physical, 34; by private J 
study, 25, 37; of our public J 
men, 34. ^ 

Egypt, books on, 270. 

Eliot, President C. W., portrait 
of, 141 ; letter of, 226. 

Elmendorf, F. F., 238. 

Employes, responsible for 
wrong-doing ordered by mas- 
ters, 41, 42, 43, 46, 50. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



293 



Endeavor motto, 179. 
Engineer, faithful to the death, 
232. 
Environment, iii., vii., 31, 35, 

36, 37, 38, 39, 48, 50. 
Erasmus, 45. 
Estey, Jacob, 36. 
Evolution vs. will, 35. 
Extravagance, 174. 



Failure, success in, iii., 177 ff.; 
in false success, 45, 126, 
159 ff. ; causes of, v., 37, 
151 f., 168 f.; sometimes 
due to fidelity, 49, 151; 
leading to good results, 126, 
177. 

Fairbanks, Hon. Franklin, 213. 
253. 

Fame, unsatisfactory, 130. 

Farmers' cases of conscience, 
59. 

Farmers' boys, list of illustri- 
ous, 19. 

Fancher, Hon. Enoch L., 251. 

Farragut, stories of, 21, 170. 

Farwell, Hon. C. B., 230. 

Ferris, Dr. J. M., 244. 

Finney, story of, 81. 

Fisk, Gen. Clinton B., portrait 
of, 65; sketch of, 264. 

Flint, Col. Weston, 241. 

Folk, Governor, courage of, 102. 

France, books on, 273. 

Franklin's maxims, 54. 

Foxcroft, Frank, 259. 



Goodrich, Daniel, 242. 
Gould, W. E., 251. 
Graft and bribery, 202. 
Gray, Dr. W. C, 243. 
Great Britain, books on, 274 ;f. 
Greece, books on, 270. 
Greenland, books on, 272. 
Grocers' adulterations, 44. 



H 



Hallock, Eev. J. N., 255. 

Hamilton, Samuel, letter of, 
262. 

Harris, J. N., 253. 

Harvey, T. W., 253. 

Hay, Secretary John, poverty 
in youth, 28; scholar in poli- 
tics, 102. 

Heinz, H. J., letter of, 260. 

Hendrick, Hon. Francis, 245. 

Henry, Patrick, 22, 32. 

Heredity, iii., 22, 32. 

Hill, T. J., 237. 

Historians, books on, 286. 

Holden, S. E., 237. 

Holland, books on, 273. 

Honesty, 46, 62, 94 f., 105, 
108 /., 116, 121, 173, 180, 207. 
See Business, Crime, etc. 

Hopkins, President Mark, 225. 

Howard, Clinton N., letter of, 
263. 

Howard, Gen. O. O., 234. 

Hunt, Dr. S., 256. 

Huyler, John S., letter of, 262. 

Hypocrisy, 88. 



Gambling, 169, 186; by women, 
iv. 

Garfield, President, incident of, 
92. 

Germany, books on, 272. 

Gillett, Congressman F. H., let- 
ter of, 261, 291. 

Girls trained to work, 27. 

Gleason, D. A., 250. 

Goode, Prof. G. B., 253. 



Iceland, books on, 272. 

Idleness, 210, 230. 

India, books on, 268. 

Infidels, 131. 

Intoxicants, as hindrances to 

success, 20, 60, 106, 107, 146; 

sale of wrong, 49, 118, 203; 

adulterations of, 197 ; use of 

by college students, vi. 
Inventors, books on, 286. 
Italy, books on, 266, 271. 



294 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



James, Hon. Darwin E., 152, 
229. 

Japan, books on, 268. 

Jews taught trades even in rich 
families, 33 ; false casuistry, 
48. 

Journalism, cowardice and com- 
mercialism of, 42. 

Judd, Orange, 36, 213. 

Judson, E. B., 245. 



K 



Keith, Z. C, 257. 

Kent, Judge, story of, 43. 

Knapp, Hon. Martin A., letter 

of, 261. 
Kossuth, Louis, quoted, vi. 



Labor and luck, 209, 211. 

Laborers, Euskin's mottoes for, 
54; lack of thrift of, 150; 
wronged, 165; monopolies by, 
194; strikes suggested for, 
205. 

Lane, A. G., 234. 

Lawrence, Amos, 94, 168. 

Lawj^ers, 43, 65, 119, 288. 

Laziness, 210. 

Libby, H. J., 252. 

Literature, men of, pictured, 65. 

Lodge, Senator H. C, portrait 
of, 30 ; political preparation 
of, 102 ; sketch of 264. 

Logan, Gen. John A., 234. 

Long, Secretary John D., por- 
trait of, 104; letters of, 250, 
261. 

Lotteries, 185. 

Luck and chance as related to 
success, 17, 31, 37, 48, 209, 
211. 

Lying, 43, 96-7. See Truth. 

M 

Mac Arthur, Dr. E. S., portrait 
of, 65 ; letter of, 261. 



Mackay-Smith, Bishop Alexan- 
der, letter of, 264. 
Magoun, Hon. George F., 252. 
Marden, Hon. George E., 251. 
Marriage as related to success, 

23, 24, 34. 
Martyrs to honesty, 48, 58. 
Maxims, 54 f. 
MeClurg, Gen. A. C, 236. 
McComas, Senator L. E., letter 

of, 261. 
McKini, Dr. E. W., letter of, 

263. 
Medill, Hon. Joseph, 231. 
Merchants and manufacturers, 

pictures of, 2. 
Milk, adulterated, 42. 
Miller, Hon. Lewis, 238. 
Millionaires, 99, 127, 129, 161. 
Money, love of, root of evils, 

161. 
Monopolies, 191. 
Moore, President Joseph, 227. 
Moral and physical as well as 

intellectual education needed, 

20, 76, 107. 
Mothers as helpers to success, 

23. 
Mottoes, 66. 
Musicians, 288. 

N 

Nelson, incident of, 149. 

Newsboys, 27. 

Newspaper writers, 42. 

New York, successful men of, 

18. 
Nichols, Dr. J. E.^ 242. 
Norway, books on, 272. 
Novelists, books on, 286. 
Novels, Frenchy, 42. 



Office, not always proof of suc- 
cess, 130. 

Opportunities, seizing, 146. 

Options, dealing in, 14. 

Orators, books on, 283. 

Osier, Prof. William, portrait 
of, 65; quoted, iv. 

Overwork, 210. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



295 



Paeh, G. W., 247. 
Page, Hon. J. D., 251. 
Painters, books on, 285. 
Palestine, books on, 269. 
Papers, corrupting, 15, 40, 56, 

118. 
Parental influence, 23, 32. See 

Heredity. 
Parsons, Philo, 252. 
Partners, selecting right, 168. 
Paul, success of, iii. 
Persia and Media, books on, 

269. 
Peters, O. G., 249. 
Philanthropists, 99, 164, 282 
Phillips, J. M., 256. 
Philosophers, books on, 287. 
Physical defects overcome, vi. 
Physical training, 34. 
Pierce, Hon. H. B., 250. 
Pluck, 27, 31, 32, 37. See Will 

and Work. 
Pocket money for boys danger- 
ous, 26. 
Poets, books on, 284. 
Politicians, statistics of the 

education and professions of, 

34. 
Politics, courage in, 53, 102; 

scholars in, 102. 
Poverty, 22, 24, 31, 111. 
Prayer in business, 101. 
Presidency, of Eoosevelt and 

Cleveland, 53. 
Prices, false, 40, 41. 
Pride, 38. 
Prison statistics, etc., 34, 107, 

111, 172, 184, 189. 
Professional men, on success, 

vi. 
Promptness, 146, 173. 
Prosperity, perils of, 114, 150, 

166. 
Proverbs, false and true, 56; 

book of, 55, 113. 
Providence, seen in and by 

great men, vii. 



Eeading, in spare moments, v.; 
courses of, v., 265; influence 
of, 55; rapidly, 71. 

Reid, Ambassador Whitelaw, 
portrait of, 65; sketch of, 
264. 

Reformers, pictures of, 104. 

Rehypothecating, 188. 

Religion, in business, 76, 100; 
to be business-like, 76. 

Restitution, 122, 196. 

Reynolds, Judge Geo. G., 228. 

Riches, not proof of success, 17, 
127 f. ; mostly in hands of 
Christian men, 100; a disad- 
vantage in boyhood, 33; uses 
and abuses of, 127, 136, 159; 
''take wings," 223. 

Riis, Jacob, quoted, 53. 

Robbery, in various forms, 14, 
181. 

Roberts, E. H., 246. 

Roe, E. P., 241. 

Roosevelt, President Theodore, 
portrait of, 30; boyhood 
home of, iv. ; political cour- 
age of, 53, 102; mottoes of, 
75; commonplace virtues of, 
53. 

Ropes, Hon. Ripley, 231. 

Rothschild, 71. 

Rumsellers, 15, 98, 118, 146, 
197. 

Runners, 43. 

Ruskin's mottoes for laborers, 
54; for himself, 145. 

Russell, Hon. C. E., 251. 

Russia, books on, 270. 



Sabbath observance, 39, 41, 89, 

119. 
Saloons. See Rumsellers. 
Salt, Titus, 214. 
Scientists, books on, 286. 
Scott, Charles, 239. 
Sculptors, books on, 285. 
Sea, books on the, 276, 278. 



296 



TOPICAL IKDEX. 



Seeyle, President J. H., por- 
trait of, 141; letter of, 226. 

Self-denial, 146. 

Self-made men, 38. 

Seward, T. F., 259. 

Sherman, Secretary John, 260. 

Simmons, H. E., 153, 240. 

Smartness, perils of, 32, 130, 
180, 192. 

Smithson, J. S., 254. 

South America, books on, 277. 

Spain, books on, 274. 

Spaulding, Hon. W. F., 250. 

Speculation, 14, 169, 186. 

Sprague, Prof. Homer B., 248. 

Springfield, statistics of, 18, 
209. 

Statesmen, pictures of, 30; 
books on, 282. 

Stealing, in many forms, 181, 
192; harder than honest 
work, 209. 

Steams, J. H., 256. 

Stephens, Hon. Alexander H., 
17, 34, 35, 152, 229. 

St. John, Governor J. P., 152, 
229. 

Stone, David M., 233. 

Stock gambling, 186. 

Studebaker, Clem., 248. 

Success, definitions of, iii., 126, 
137; counterfeit, 126 f.-, 
causes of, as given by suc- 
cessful men, v., 105, 139, 
141, 212 ; false ideas of, 120. 

Sullivan, W. K., 233. 

Sunday, 39, 41, 44, 45, 48, 74, 
89, 95, 119, 181, 193. 

Swan, O. H., 257. 

Sweden, books on, 272. 

Swindles, 188. 

Switzerland, books on, 274. 



Taber, Dr. J. E., 255. 
Taber, L. C, 257. 
Taylor, Mayor Levi, 235. 
Temperance. See Intemperance 

and Eumsellers. 
Tenney, Hon. A. W., 241. 
Tent, gospel, 83. 



Thiers, 212. 

Thomas, Hon. W. W., 252. 

Thrift, 150. 

Titus, Edmund, 256. 

Tobacco, use of by authors and 

by boys, 20 ; raising of, 49 ; 

cost of, 106, 118, 172; what 

great men say of, 18. 
Tourgee, Judge A. W., letter 

of, 147. 
Tourjee, Dr. Eben, 245. 
Townsend, Dr. L. T., 36. 
Trades, for boys, 33, 34, 157, 

215; despised, 49. 
Travel, by reading, 265, 278. 
Trusts. See Monopolies. 
Truth, 89. 
Turkey, books on, 269. 

U 

United States, books on, 276. 

V 

Vanderbilt, Wm. H., quoted, 
187. 

Villages, proportion of success- 
ful men from, 32. 

Vincent, Bishop J. H., 144, 241. 



W 

Wanamaker, Hon. John, por- 
trait of, Frontispiece; 144, 
237. 

Ward, Dr. Wm. Hayes, 244. 

Wardsworth mottoes, 74. 

Watchwords, QQ. 

Waters, Horace, 255. 

Wealth. See Kiches. 

Weaver, Mayor John, courage 
of, 102. 

Webb, William H., 213. 

Webster, J. B., 252. 

Webster, J. C, 259. 

Weed, Hon. Thurlow, poor in 
childhood, 24. 

Weights and measures, false, 
195. 

Wendling, Hon. G. E., 236. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



297 



West, Dr. Eobert, 244. 
Whaler, story of a, 80. 
Wheeler, E. J., letter of, 262. 
White, President Andrew D., 

portrait of, 141,- 144, 226. 
Will, courageous, 53 ; and work, 

31, 35, 37, 38, 178. 
Wilson, J. E., 239. 
Windom, Wm., 228. 
Wine, use of by authors, 20. 
Wives, wise and otherwise, 23, 

24, 34. See Marriage. 
Women, 27, 219, 224, 284. 
Wood, Dr. O. S., 259. 



Work, as open secret to success, 
iv. ; honorable, 219 f.; man- 
ual, disliked, 156; advantages 
of regular, in boyhood, 26, 
27; for girls, 27, 219; and 
will, as secrets of success, 
31, 37, 208 f.; and worship, 
96, 123; bad, dishonest, 205; 
relation of, to rank, 218. 

Wright, President Carroll D., 
portrait of, 141; letter of, 
261. 

Y 

Young men, 14. 



BOOKS BY WILBUR F. CRAFTS. 



PATRIOTIC STUDIES. New Enlarged Edition. Octavo, 288 pp. Cloth, 35 cts. 
(Abridged edition, 32 pp., 2 cts.) 

PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN SOCIOLOGY. 12mo. Cloth, 512 pp. $1.50. 4th 
thousand. 

THE MARCH OP CHRIST DOWN THE CENTURIES. 128 pp. Cloth, 25 cts. ; 
paper, 10 cts. 8th thousand. 

THE SABBATH FOR nAN. 12mo, 672 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 9th thousand. 

THE CIVIL SABBATH. Octavo, 96 pp. Paper, 15 cts. 5th thousand. 

INTOXICANTS AND OPIUfl IN ALL LANDS AND TIMES. (Mrs. Crafts 
and Misses Mary and. Margaret W. Leitch, joint authors.) 12mo, 288 pp. 
Cloth, 75 cts. ; paper, 35 cts 8th thousand. 

SUCCESSFUL riEN OP TO-DAY AND WHAT THEY SAY OF SUCCESS. 

Based on Replies of 300 Living Men of Eminence as to How They Attained 
Success. With Study of Integrity in Business. Illustrated. 12mo, 299 pp. 
Cloth, $1.00. New enlarged edition. 45th thousand. 

THAT BOY AND GIRL OF YOURS ; OR, WHAT SUCCESSFUL PARENTS 
AND TEACHERS SAY OP CHILD TRAINING. (In Preparation.) 

HEROES AND HOLIDAYS. Five-minute Talks to Boys and Girls on Heroes 
of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Acts. Also, on All Annual Holidays. Illus- 
trated. 12mo, 474 pp. Cloth, $1,25. 1st thousand. 

TALKS TO BOYS AND GIRLS ABOUT JESUS. By Dr. Crafts and others. 
Five-minute Sermons to Children on Life of Christ, Chronologically 
arranged. 12mo, 377 pp. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cts. 6th thousand. 

PLAIN USES OF THE BLACKBOARD. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. 11th thousand. 

BEFORE THE LOST ARTS. An Illustrated Lecture on Evidences of God in 
Nature. 96 pp. Cloth, 25 cts. 30th thousand. 

ECCE REX VESTER; OR, THE KINGSHIP OF CHRIST IN NATURE, SCRIP- 
TURE, HISTORY, AND REFORMS. (In preparation.) 

TEACHERS' EDITION OF THE REVISED TESTAMENT. Cloth, $1.50. Ist 
thousand. 

NEW TESTAflENT HELPS. 8vo, 69 pp. Paper. 20 cts. 2d thousand. 
Any of the above-named books loill be seyit postpaid on receipt of price by 

FUNK & WAQNALLS COMPANY, 

NEW YORK AND LONDON. 



BOOKS OF BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



BIOGRAPHICAL 

A Library of Illustrious Americans 

Life stories of twelve Americans who have been largely instrumental 
in establishing high standards of American character, intellect, and 
institutions. Twelve volumes, uniform size and style, cloth, 12mo, 
many portraits. Per volume, $1.50. 

Refdrxuers Series 

WENDELL PHILLIPS, The Agitator. 

HORACE GREELEY, The Editor. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, The Emancipator. 

WILLIAM E. DODGE, The Christian Merchant. 

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, The Colored Orator. 

DR. S. G, HOWE, The Philanthropist. 

JOHN G. WHITTIER, The Poet of Freedom. 

WM. LLOYD GARRISON, The Abolitionist. 

CHARLES SUMNER, The Scholar in Politics. 

JOHN BROWN AND HIS MEN, With twenty-two portraits. 

HENRY WARD BEECHER, The Shakespeare of the Pulpit. 

JOHN B. GOUGH, The Apostle of Cold Water. 

President McKinley said: The work is one of the highest literary 
character and one deserving of the warmest commendation as appeal- 
ing to the strongest patriotism and humantarianism of the American 
people. 

Nathan Hale, the Ideal Patriot 

A graphic narrative of the events in Hale's life. By William Ord- 
WAY Partridge. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, |L00. 
The book recalls two of the most Interesting episodes of the revolution. 
— The Pittsburg Post. 

The Hermits 

Including St. Anthony, St. Paul, Hilarion, Arsenius, Hermits of Asia, 
Basil, Simon Stylities, Hermits of 'Europe. By Charles Kingsley. 
4to, Paper, 54 pages, 15 cents, 

Oliver Cromwell 

His Life, Time, Battle-fields, and Contemporaries. By E. Paxtok 
Hood. 12mo, Cloth, $1.00: Paper, 25 cents. 

John Wycliffe 

Patriot and Reformer. By John Laird Wilson. 12mo, Cloth, with 
portrait, $1.00; Paper, 25 cents. 

Isabella of Castile 

A Story of Her Life and Achievements. By Maj.-Gen. O. O. Howard. 
With photogravures and text illustrations. 12mo,Cloth,with map, $1.50. 

Charlotte Bronte 

An Hour with Charlotte Bronte; or. Flowers from a Yorkshire Moor. 
By Laura C. Holloway. 12mo, Cloth, portrait, 75c.; Paper, 15c. 

John Calvin 

By M. Guizot, Member of the French Institute. 16mo, Cloth, 50 cents; 
Paper, 15 cents. 



BOOKS OF BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



BIOGRAPHICAL 
French Celebrities 

Brief Biographies of Foremost Frenchmen. 12mo, Vol. I, 139 pages; 
Vol. II, 150 pages; Cloth, each, 75 cents; Paper, each, 15 cents. 

Biography of Hon. James G. Blaine 

An Authoritative Story of Mr. Blaine's Life. By Gail Hamilton- 
8vo, Cloth, illustrated, 700 pages, $2.75; Sheep, $3.50. 

Alfred the Great 

A Biography. By Thomas Hughes. 4to, Paper, 96 pages, 20 cents. 

The Moral Crusader : Wm. Lloyd Garrison 

A Biographical Essay. By Goldavin Smith, LL.D., D.C.L. 12mo, 
Cloth, with portrait, 200 pages, $1.00. 

Joan of Arc 

By Alphonse de Lamabtine. 4to, Paper, 15 pages, 10 cents. 

Raymund Lull 

The Life-story of the First Missionary to the Moslems. By Samuel 
ZwEMER, F.R.G.S. 75 cents, net; by mail, 83 cents. 

Lives of Illustrious Shoemakers 

Brief Biographies of the More Famous of the Craft. By William E. 
Winks. 12mo, Cloth, $1.00; Paper, 25 cents. 

Alexander Maclaren, D.D. 

The Man and His Message. By John C. Caklilb. Bvo, Cloth, por- 
trait, $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08. 

Catharine of Siena 

A Fascinating Biography of Medieval History. By A. T. Pierson. 
D.D. 12mo, Cloth, 50 cents. 

Maj.-Gen. O. O. Howard 

The Leading Events of His Life. By Laura C. Hollow at. 12mo, 
Cloth, $1.00; Paper, 25 cents. 

HISTORICAL 
Historical Lights 

By Charles E. Little. 6,000 historical extracts, illustrating 30,000 

topics. 8vo, Cloth, 964 pages, $5.00; Sheep, $6.50. 

It is very comprehensive, and Is valuable as an aid to centralizing thought. 

— Christian Intelligencer. 

Cyclopedia of Classified Dates 

By Charles E. Little. A ready-reference compendium of notable 
events in the history of all countries from B. C 5004 to present times. 
8vo, Cloth, 1,462 pages, $10.00; Sheep, $12.50; Half Morocco, $15.00; 
Full Morocco, $18.00. 

Of utmost value to students and readers generally.— <7M«<m McCarthy, 
Esq., M.P. 

The Columbian Historical Novels 

A complete history of America, told in the form of thirteen fascinating 
romances, with historical indexes, chronologies, maps, and illustra- 
tions. By John E. Musick. Price, per set, Cloth, $21.75; Half Mo- 
rocco, $82.50. 
History wrought out In living characters.— JowrnaZ of Commerce, N. Y. 



BOOKS OF BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



HISTORICAL 

History of England 

A popular history of English society, government, and institutions. 
By Charles Knight. Two volumes. 4to, Cloth, 1,394 pages, $3.75, 
Paper, eight volumes, $2.80. 

Historical and Other Sketches 

By James A. Froude. 12mo, Cloth, $1.00; Paper, 25 cents. 
It presents the varied characteristics of Mr. Fronde's style, and enables 
the reader to form a comprehensive Idea of his writings.— J%e Observer, 
New York. 

The Jewish Encyclopedia 

The history, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the 
earliest times to the present day, prepared by about 400 scholars and 
specialists. Twelve volumes. 4to, 2,000 illustrations. Cloth, $72.00; 
Half Morocco, $96.00; Full Morocco, $120.00. 

Of absorbing Interest to people of all creeds and all nationalities.— ion- 
don Graphic. 

Isabella of Castile 

A story of her life, including a narrative of the three wars with which 
her life was intimately connected. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, 349 
pages, with map, $1.50. 

The story of the great queen is told In a clear and Interesting style.— 
Morning Star, Boston. 

American Colonial Handbook 

A pocket cyclopedia, historical, commercial, descriptive. 16mo, Cloth, 
with maps, 50 cents. 

Well adapted for use as a travelers' guide or a manual for ready refer- 
ence.— 2)e<roi< Free Press. 

Wall Street in History 

By Martha J. Lamb. 4to, illustrated, $2.00. 

Concise, popular, and authentic— TAe Christian Advocate. 

Hours with Living Men and Women of the Revolution 

By Benson J. Lossing. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.50. 

A valuable contribution to the history of the revolution.— T/te Sun, N. Y. 

The Imperial Republic 

The history of the United States expansion, with maps. By Jambs 

C. Fernald. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

His outlook is broad and hali..— Chicago Tribune. 

The Spaniard in History 

From the 15th century to the close of the Spanish- American War. 

By James C. Fernald. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

It is a work of absorbing Interest.- &na«or John M. Thurston. 

The Boer Fight for Freedom 

A complete and authentic account of the Boer War, from the Boer 
side, by Michael Davitt. Large 8vo, Cloth, 603 pages, illustrated, 
seven maps, $2.50; Three-Quarter Leather, $4.00. 
A book of strong arguments, vivid descriptions, and graphic pictures of 
men and events.— TAe Philadelphia Item. 



FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK 



BOOKS OF TRxVYEL AND DESCRIPTION 



Washington: Its Sights and Insights 

Just what visitors and others want to know about the national capitol. 
By Mrs. Habriet E. Monroe. Copiously illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, 
p. 00, net. 

Hawaii: Our New Possessions 

This true and wonderful story of Hawaii— "the Paradise of the Pacific" 
—as it has been and as it is to-day. By John R. Musick. Profusely 
illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, 546 pages, map, |2.75. Half Morocco, $4.00 

Outdoor Life in Europe 

Sketches of men, manners, people, and places, during two summers 
abroad. By Edward P. Thwing, Ph.D. 4to, Paper, 20 cents. 

In the Heart of Africa 

Travels of Sir Samuel Bake?, F.R.G.S. With map. 12mo, Cloth, 
$1.00; Paper, 25 cents. 

A Winter in India 

By Rt. Hon. W, E. Baxter. With index and notes by the American 
publishers. 12mo, Cloth, with map, 75 cents; Paper, 15 cents. 

Aboard and Abroad 

A story of a trip abroad, with sketches of localities, events, and people 
of interest. By W. P. Bbbed. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 15 cents. 

The Real Latin Quarter of Paris 

Racy sketches of the innermost life and characters of the famous 
Bohemia of Paris— its grisettes, students, models, balls, studios, cafes, 
etc. By F. Bbrkblet Smith. Nearly 100 original drawings and 
camera snap shots by the author; two caricatures In color by Sancha; 
water color frontispiece by F. Hopkinson Smith. 12mo, Cloth, $1.00. 

How Pari* Amuses Itself 

A captivating book, full of the meiTy spirit, the sparkle, the color, the 
throb of the gayest of all cities. By F. Berkblbt Smith. Profusely 
illustrated with photographs, drawings by the author; water color 
drawings by eminent French artists and caricaturists. 12mo, Cloth, 
$1.50, net. 

Parisians Out of Doors 

By F. BiHaKBLBY Smith. 12mo, Cloth, illustrated with drawings by 
the author and several French artists, and water-color frontispiece by 
P. Hopkinson Smith. $1.50, net ; by mail, $1.64. 
In a breezy, Informal style, the author pictures every form of out-of-door 
amusement in and about the capital of the world's f nn .— American, 
Nashville, Tenn. 

The Spirit of the Ghetto 

Pictures of people and life in the great East Side Jewish Quarter of 
New York. By Htttchins Hapgood. With drawings from life by 
Jacob Epstein. 390 pages, IBustratied, $1.35, net. 



FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK 



OCT 26 1905 



i 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent; Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 

PreservationTechnoIogies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



